Introduction: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a kind of hospital-acquired infection that occurs secondary to intubation or mechanical ventilation that was not present during the admission of a patient or occurs after 48 hours of intubation or mechanical ventilation. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge and practice of critical care nurses in the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia in East Gojam and West Gojam zones, Ethiopia. Method: A descriptive study design was conducted in two public specialized hospitals which are Debre Markos Comprehensive and Tibebe Gion Specialized Hospitals. Participants of the study were selected using a purposive sampling technique to include all intensive care units that were on duty during the data collection period and all 40 intensive care unit nurses volunteered to participate. Knowledge was considered satisfactory when it was 80% and more. A score of less than 90% is considered an unsatisfactory level of practice. Result: The most well-known evidence-based guidelines (EBGs) for the prevention of VAP were related to patient positioning (100%) and the selection of endotracheal intubation method (92.5). The least well-known EBGs were related to the humidifier change (22.5%). Regarding the adherence to EBGs for the prevention of VAP, only the patient position and “humidify respiratory circuit using humidity & heat exchange filter” achieved 100% to the standard. Conclusion: Patient position, Orotracheal intubation method, and heat-moisture exchangers were known in greater than 80% of nurses. Therefore, out of ten items only three of them were known satisfactorily. Overall, the knowledge and practical adherence to EBGs of ICU nurses were inadequate.
Misganaw et al. (Tue,) studied this question.