Nurses' knowledge of evidence- based guidelines for preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive care units

Background and Purpose: Implementing the guidelines to prevent VAP has been shown to have a significant effect on reducing the incidence of VAP. Studies indicate that ICU staff have poor knowledge and low implementation rate of the standard preventive measures related to VAP. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge of nurses in the intensive care unit in University hospitals of Sari.
Methods: Nurses’ knowledge was assessed using a questionnaire completed by 52 ICU nurses chosen through availability sampling. The questionnaire was adopted from similar studies and included 9 questions. Validity of the questionnaire was already verified by the experts. Test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.92. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics by SPSS software version 16.
Results: Regarding the assessment of nurses’ knowledge, 34.6% of them answered correctly about oral route for endotracheal intubation; 78.8% answered correctly about the type of humidifier; and 80.8% chose the closed suction system as the correct answer. Using kinetic beds, endotracheal tubes with extra lumens for the drainage of subglottic secretions and semi-recumbent positioning were the correct options chosen by 90.4%, 65.4% and 82.2% of the participants. Respondents had the least knowledge about the frequency of ventilator circuit changes (17.3%), the frequency of humidifier changes (3.8%) and the frequency of changes in the suction system (13.5%).
Conclusion: The average level of the nurses’ knowledge about non-pharmacological preventive measures was 51.92% which was lower compared with the surveys in the other countries, highlighting the need for more educational programs in this field. It is important to ensure that nurses receive continuous training and are involved in updating guidelines for care and behavior.