In a study undertaken by Dr Nawal Salahuddin (right), Assistant Professor, lectures, tutorials, bedside teaching and visual aids were used to educate ICU nursing, technical and medical house staff about preventive practices for ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is among the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections worldwide. On average, VAP is reported to complicate between 20 and 60 per cent of all ICU admissions in the western world while data from Pakistan is comparable at rates of 20 to 40 per cent. Such alarming rates led Dr Nawal Salahuddin, Assistant Professor in the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at AKU, to undertake a research study aimed at reducing the incidence of VAP at Aga Khan University Hospital.

VAP adds considerable costs to patient care, in terms of increased morbidity and mortality as well as direct monetary costs of care," says Dr Salahuddin. Focusing on prevention of infection, an educational plan was devised that stressed locally available and low-cost measures. Lectures, tutorials, bedside teaching and visual aids were used to educate ICU nursing, technical and medical house staff about preventive practices for VAP, with senior ICU nursing staff ensuring that all shift workers were exposed to the programme. Besides Dr Salahuddin, team members included Dr Afia Zafar, Dr Shahid Javed Husain, Dr Shahla Siddiqui, Dr Muhammad Farrukh Noor, Dr Kashif Hussain, Laila Sukhyani and Muhammad Islam.