The Effect of Ventilator Circuit Change every Five Days on the Occurrence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia among Critically Ill Patients

Amin, Manar; Abd El-aziz, Wafaa; Sultan, Mohamed; Kandeel, Nahed

doi:10.21608/mnj.2023.320392

The Effect of Ventilator Circuit Change every Five Days on the Occurrence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia among Critically Ill Patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Demonstrator of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt

² Assist. Professor of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt

³ Professor of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt

⁴ Professors of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt

10.21608/mnj.2023.320392

Abstract

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) has a major impact on patients' outcomes, making it an important
concept to understand for the health care team working with critically ill patients. It is a frequent complication of
mechanical ventilation with a high mortality rate. Bacterial colonization of the ventilator circuits is one of the main
sources of pathogens causing VAP in mechanically ventilated patients. Changing the ventilator circuits every five days
may reduce the incidence of VAP among those patients. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effect of ventilator
circuit change every five days on the occurrence of VAP among critically ill patients. Method: A quasi-experimental
design was used to conduct this study in the emergency surgical intensive care units of the Emergency Hospital at
Mansoura University. A sample of 94 patients was randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 47) and the control
group (n = 47). The intervention group received 5 day ventilator circuit change and the control group received routine
change. Ventilator-associated pneumonia assessment tool was used to collect data for this study. Results: The findings
showed a reduction in the occurrence of VAP among patients with 5 day ventilator circuit change (P <0.001).
Conclusion: Changing the ventilator circuits every 5 days is a safe practice and can significantly reduce the occurrence
of VAP among critically ill patients. Recommendations: Critical care nurses should incorporate the ventilator circuit
change every 5 days into their practices to reduce the occurrence of VAP and achieve good patients' outcomes. Large
scale studies are needed to enrich the evidence related to mechanically ventilated patients' care.

Keywords