Nurses Knowledge Assessment Concerning Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Abstract

(VAP) is defined as pneumonia that develops in mechanically ventilated patients after 48 hours or more of

mechanical ventilator support, VAP increases the mortality and morbidity rates of patients and healthcare

costs, This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Sample a total sample of 126 nurses was collected

for the current study,setting and Participants a convenience sample of graduate nurses was obtained from

eight hospitals throughout Babylon. The study was approved by the ethics committees of the Babylon health

department and the participating, Researcher used standard a questionnaire that integrated the assessment of

nurse’s knowledge for prevention of VAP from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention questionnaire

was validated by a panel of four specialists in the disciplines of nursing, The questionnaire was administered

to the participants in their hospitals by the principle investigator. Nurses were informed that their completion

of the questionnaire would be considered as consent to participate.SPSS version 22 was used for data

analysis, The study conclude that the mean age of participants in the study was young and female, the

majority of the nurses didn’t know that the mechanical ventilator humidifier must be changed weekly to

prevent VAP. Researcher encourage all Iraqihospitals ICUs nurses to involve inclinical training to improve

nurses acquisition and to evaluate the content of the nursing curricula to identify shortcomings in content.

It is imperative that VAP-prevention guidelines be integrated in training and teaching within the nursing

schools, and that the content and teaching strategies of infection control courses are updated.