VAP free for 1000 days, it can be done

Preventing hospital-acquired infections, including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), has become a priority for Wyoming Medical Center. Despite the implementation of a standardized care bundle protocol to reduce the facility's high rate of VAP, rates of VAP remained higher than the national benchmark. A recent breakthrough in care happened when the center's intensive care unit created a multidisciplinary VAP committee with the goal of reducing the incidence of potentially deadly VAP. The VAP committee implemented a VAP bundle protocol and adopted the use of a polyurethane endotracheal tube on the basis of literature review. These interventions, in addition to comprehensive education and the synergism between physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists, have not only reduced the center's VAP rate but also prevented the occurrences of VAP during 33 consecutive months.