A symposium held at the Infection Prevention conference examined the most effective strategies to prevent infection on the ICU – including the use of chlorhexidine dressings for catheters, daily patient decontamination, better designed endotracheal tubes and VAP care bundles.
LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia and blood stream infections continue to present a challenge for intensive care units (ICU). Various strategies have been investigated with the aim of preventing infection in these vulnerable patients. At a recent Ethicon symposium on infection control in the ICU, Dr Duncan Wyncoll considered: ‘what really works?’
A consultant intensivist from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Wyncoll highlighted the problem of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) – a common infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) which is associated with high mortality. Some figures suggest that it has a mortality of around 30%.1
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