Summary of Critical Care Nurses' Understanding, Adherence, and Barriers in Applying Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Prevention Guidelines: A Narrative Review.

Abstract

Both adults and pediatric patients who are on mechanical ventilation face high rates of mortality and morbidity due to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), which is the most prevalent deadly hospital-acquired infection. Healthcare organizations provide evidence-based guidelines to help nurses decrease VAP in ICUs; however, there are obstacles to putting these guidelines into practice. An extensive investigation was conducted for pertinent English studies published from January 2014 to February 2024 in the databases of Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and CINAHL. The study centered on nurses' understanding, adherence, and obstacles regarding introducing VAP prevention guidelines. The majority of ICU nurses have a basic to intermediate understanding of evidence-based methods to reduce VAP. The nurses in the ICUs typically followed the guidelines for preventing VAP about 60% of the time. A basic analysis of descriptive content identified the obstacles preventing critical care nurses (CCNs) from following VAP PGs. The obstacles were separated into 2 groups: barriers related to nurses (such as education, experience, and training) and barriers related to the work environment (such as lack of supplies, staffing shortage, lack of policies, and ineffective supervision). To improve their skills, CCNs should get frequent updates on courses and seminars related to the VAP PG implementation. Healthcare administrators must be aware of these obstacles and implement work procedures that help CCNs overcome them if they want to increase compliance.