Length: 60 minutes
Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk for infections associated with increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. The overall infection rate in critically ill patients approaches 40 percent and may be as high as 50 percent or 60 percent in patients who remain in the ICU for more than five days. Respiratory tract infections account for 30 percent to 60 percent of all such infections. The incidence of pneumonia acquired in the ICU ranges from 10 percent to 65 percent.
Among patients at high risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) are those who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, burns, neurosurgical conditions, the acute respiratory distress syndrome, and witnessed aspiration; those who are reintubated; and those who receive paralytic agents or enteral nutrition.
