Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins researchers said providers can employ certain strategies to lower ventilator-associated events, according to Morningside Maryland.
Researchers analyzed data from 56 intensive care units at 38 hospitals in Pennsylvania and Maryland to assess how providers could strengthen adherence to ventilator protocols. Participants complied with Society of Critical Care Medicine and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America intervention recommendations for patients on ventilators.
The facility's staff also underwent training on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, an initiative aiming to limit patient harm.
Here are three study insights:
1. After undergoing the training, the number of ventilator-associated events fell by nearly 38 percent.
2. Infection-related ventilator-associated complications fell by more than 50 percent.
3. Both probable and possible ventilator-associated pneumonia cases plummeted 78 percent.
