Oral Care Protocol for Preventing Ventilator- Associated Pneumonia
Oral Care Protocol for Preventing Ventilator- Associated Pneumonia
The Nosocomial Pneumonia remains to be a major complication for patients who were incubated
 with ventilation. Most cases are attributed to increased bacteria flora in oropharyngeal
 secretion and aspiration of those organisms. Research indicates that the Gram-Negative
 Bacteria grows in upper air way and trachea rapidly during the initial 2-4 hospital days and
 the dental plague also increased dramatically at the first 5 days. About 50% cases with
 prolonged intubation experienced temporal swallowing disorders and majority of them recovered
 7 days post weaning. Some evidence exist suggesting that oral care could reduce bacterial
 flora, prevent aspiration, and subsequently decrease the incidence of ventilation-associated
 pneumonia for this group of high risk patients.

 This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized oral care protocol in
 improving oral hygiene and reducing the incidence of pneumonia on a sample of surgical
 patients at intensive care unit.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Patients newly admitted to SICU who were under ventilator support for 48~72 hours

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  With pneumonia present