The Effect of Oral Hygiene for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia(VAP) Incidence

Seo, Hyo-Kyung; Choi, Eun-Hee; Kim, Jin-Hee

Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing 2011;4(2):39-46.
Published online December 31, 2011.

구강간호가 인공호흡기관련 폐렴 발생률에 미치는 효과

서효경, 최은희, 김진희

¹중앙대학교병원 간호부
²한국성서대학교 간호학부
³중앙대학교병원 내과계 중환자실

The Effect of Oral Hygiene for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia(VAP) Incidence

Hyo-Kyung Seo, Eun-Hee Choi, Jin-Hee Kim

¹Department of Nursing, Chung-Ang University Medical Center
²Department of Nursing, Korean Bible University
³Medical ICU, Chung-Ang University Medical Center

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of oral hygiene for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) incidence.
Methods
This study was used a nonequivalent control group posttest design. This study was performed in two groups, experimental group and control group. The experimental group (36 patients) had performed oral care for 6 times a day. The control group (39 patients) had followed and 3 times oral care a day. Participants were patients of 20 years of age or older on mechanical ventilation more than 48 hours from July 5 to October 31 in 2007 at the medical and surgical ICU of C university hospital.
Results
VAP occurred in 5 cases in the control group, while only 1 case occurred in the experimental group. Incidence for 1000 ventilator day was 12.59 in the control group and 2.18 in the experimental group.
Conclusion
Nursing intervention of 6 times oral care a day proved to decrease incidence of VAP. A guideline should be made using the above nursing intervention for the critical ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

Key Words: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), Mechanical Ventilation, Oral hygiene