ประสิทธิผลของโปรแกรมการป้องกันปอดอักเสบจากการใช้เครื่องช่วยหายใจในพยาบาลหอผู้ป่วยวิกฤตอายุรกรรม

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a critical problem for hospital-associated infections globally and results in death. Therefore, enhancing knowledge and practices on prevention of VAP for nurses is crucial. This quasi-experimental research aimed to determine the effectiveness of the VAP prevention program on knowledge, practices, and VAP incidence in a medical intensive care unit in a tertiary hospital during October to December 2022. The study sample consisted of 23 medical intensive care unit nurses. The research instruments included the VAP prevention program, a demographic data questionnaire, a knowledge test, a practice observational recording form, and a VAP incidence form. The content validity index of the knowledge test and the practice observational recording form were 1.00 and 0.99, respectively. The reliability of the knowledge test and the interrater reliability of the practice observational recording form were 0.94 and 1.00, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test. The results of the study revealed that after implementing the program, the participants significantly increased their median knowledge scores on prevention of VAP compared with before implementation, from 13.00 to 18.00 out of 20.00 points (p < .001), and the proportion of correct practices for prevention of VAP significantly increased compared with before implementation, from 71.29% to 95.04% (p < .001). The incidence of VAP in the medical intensive care unit decreased from 10.60 to 3.64 per 1,000 ventilator days. The results of the study showed that the VAP prevention program could improve knowledge and practices among medical intensive care nurses, and reduce the incidence of VAP in a medical intensive care unit. This program should be implemented for enhancing knowledge and practices in the prevention of VAP in other medical intensive care unit nurses.