Preventing Non-Ventilator Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia

The March issue of The Source, the digital newsletter of the Joint Commission, featured an interview with Barbara Quinn, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, FCNS, Director of Professional Practice & Nursing Excellence at Sutter Health. In the interview, Quinn spoke about the impact of non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia and the importance of prevention. “NV-HAP affects almost 1 in every 100 hospitalized patients, and because of its frequency, it costs more lives and dollars than any other HAI in the United States,” Quinn stated.

All patients are at some risk

The article also points out that one reason healthcare organizations are not required to monitor or report NV-HAP is that the size of the population at risk is overwhelming. It includes nearly every patient in the hospital who is not intubated and ventilated. “It’s one thing to monitor patients with tubes,” says Quinn, “but monitoring for NV-HAP means following almost every patient in the hospital. However, the research is clear: All hospitalized patients are at some risk for NV-HAP.”

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