Development of a Guideline to Promote Nurses’ Use of a Care Bundle for Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Abstract

Abstract: 

This research and development study aimed to develop guidelines to encourage the nurses using a care bundle to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The study consisted of 3 phases: (1) develop guidelines to promote the nurses using a care bundle; (2) disseminate and promote the use of a care bundle; and (3) evaluate the outcomes of using a care bundle. The sample comprised of 19 professional nurses and 44 patients using mechanical ventilation.  Research instruments consisted of 2 components: (1) the guidelines to encourage the nurses using a care bundle to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia and (2) data collection tools consisting of general information questionnaires of the nurses and the patients, the nurses’ adherence assessment form, and the patients’ infection surveillance record. The quality of the instrument was checked by five experts, yielding a content validity index (I-CVI) of .99 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .96. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Paired-Sample t-test.

The results found that the nurses’ adherence to a care bundle significant increased (t 2.405, p < .05). The incident of VAP was only 4.50%. Therefore, these findings demonstrate that the guidelines were effective and should be used as the nursing standards to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit.