The Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Critical Care: Aligning with SDG 3

Abstract

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) remains one of the most common and severe healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (ICUs). This study reviews best practices for preventing VAP, focusing on evidence-based strategies and their effectiveness in reducing morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Literature findings reveal that VAP affects 10–30% of ventilated patients, prolongs ICU stays by 7–9 days, increases treatment costs by $10,000–$40,000 per case, and contributes to mortality rates of 20–50%. Risk factors are also the vulnerabilities of the patient, the mechanical ventilation period, the weak infection control practices, and the development of biofilm on endotracheal tubes. The conventional preventive strategies including hand hygiene, elevation of head-of-bed, oral hygiene involving the use of chlorhexidine and aseptic suctioning are of paramount need. Nevertheless, VAP prevention bundles, which entail a combination of interventions have had the most success in the reduction of infections and the improvement of patient outcomes, however. Such a study underscores how and why a multidisciplinary collaboration focused on adherence to all regulations and proper staff education are key to sustainable VAP incidence reduction. Preventing this is more important than treatment, and it has multiple advantages in terms of patient safety, antimicrobial stewardship, and healthcare efficiency.