What’s New in the Patient Safety World
October 2017
Updated Guidelines for VAP and HAP
Updated guidelines for the management of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) were recently published in the European Respiratory Journal (Torres 2017). These were developed by a task force of several European medical societies, though the task force also included several experts from the US. The report does acknowledge differences between the US and European approaches in several areas.
The numerous recommendations are beyond the scope of this column but the guideline addresses some of the following issues:
- distal vs proximal quantitative sampling
- initial antibiotic selection based upon patient and environment factors
- duration of antibiotic therapy
- patient assessment methods
- value (or lack thereof) of biomarkers
- status of selective oral decontamination (SOD) or selective digestive decontamination (SDD) in prevention
- role of antibiotic stewardship
For each of the questions/topics addressed, the guideline summarizes the evidence base and strength of the recommendations and includes comments about the utilization of resources necessary.
This is yet another valuable resource in your quest to avoid hospital-acquired infections.
References:
Torres A, Niederman MS, Chastre J, et al. International ERS/ESICM/ESCMID/ALAT guidelines for the management of hospital-acquired pneumonia and ventilator-associated pneumonia: guidelines for the management of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP)/ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and Asociación Latinoamericana del Tórax (ALAT). European Respiratory Journal 2017 50: 1700582
http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/50/3/1700582.long
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