The staff on Community Hospital East’s 2 South Tower intensive care unit (ICU) recently marked an important milestone: five years without a case of ventilator acquired pneumonia (VAP). “This accomplishment is world-class. The commitment by the staff to achieve this milestone is unprecedented,” says Steve Hultgren, interim president of Community Hospital East. “This is truly a time to be proud of an exceptional event in patient safety at Community Health Network.”

Community East ICU staff celebrates 5 years of being VAP free

The initiative to eliminate VAP in the ICU began as a collaboration among nurses, doctors, infection control staff, respiratory therapists and radiology technicians at Community East. Education for staff was formalized in 1998, and the process has continually been refined to improve rates of infection.

“This program has allowed us to enhance patient safety by eliminating a preventable error,” says Sherri Crawford, R.N., clinical director at Community Hospital East. “We’re up to five years and counting without a case of VAP in our ICU.”

Community’s program builds awareness of the key contributors to pneumonia development and establishes practices that prevent infection. Among them: regular hand washing and glove wearing; elevating the head of the patient’s bed at an angle of 30 degrees; mobilizing patients twice a day to improve air flow and circulation; and maintaining the patient’s mouth hygiene.

“We have built a culture of accountability, one in which staff members coach each other,” says Crawford. “It’s a non-threatening approach that allows all of us to ask questions and reinforce good behaviors.”

Community’s ICU clinicians regularly host site visits and offer consultations and training to their counterparts at hospitals across the country. In 2008, Community East was named a leading practice hospital by VHA Inc., a national health care alliance, for establishing effective and efficient care for VAP.

The Community Hospital East infection control process for VAP has been implemented at all Community Health Network ICUs, and all seven have gone at least one year without a case of VAP.