Study of incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia in adult patients in Intensive care unit

Abstract

Pneumonia accounts for nearly 15% of all hospital acquired (nosocomial) infections and 24% to 27% of all those acquired in coronary care units and medical intensive care units (ICU) respectively. Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is a serious complication of mechanical ventilation which increases the patient's stay in the ICU and overall length of hospital stay and adds to overall costs. VAP is the most common of all nosocomial infections which contribute to death. The present study was undertaken to Study of incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia in adult patients in Intensive care unit. The study was conducted over a period of 2 years in an intensive care unit (ICU) of SMBT medical college, Ghoti, dist-Nashik. A total of 200 patients who were kept on mechanical ventilator were randomly selected. The patients were of both sexes kept on ventilator for more than 48 hour and having age of > 15 years. It was analyzed in our study that those requiring prolonged ventilator support (>15 days) had a significantly higher incidence of VAP (P-value, 0.001). Of the 200 patients, 84 patients developed VAP during the ICU stay. VAP continues to be a commonly encountered challenge amongst critically ill patients and carries significant burdens of morbidity, antibiotic utilization and cost.