Knowledge and practices of critical care health professionals related to ventilator associated pneumonia in tertiary care hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi

Objective: to assess knowledge and practices of critical care health professionals related to ventilator associated pneumonia. methods: this cross-sectional survey was conducted at eight tertiary care public and private hospitals of islamabad/rawalpindi,pakistan,from september 2015 to march 2016,and comprised healthcare professionals. stratified random sampling was used. data was collected using close-ended validated questionnaire. spss 22 was used for data analysis. results: of the 153 participants,45(29.4%) were doctors,91(59.4%) were nurses and 17(11.1%) were respiratory therapists. the overall mean age was 31±8.14 years. the overall mean knowledge and practice scores regarding prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia were 11.14±3.12 and 8.83±1.53,respectively. the mean knowledge score was 11.77±3.84 for physicians,10.84± 2.91 for nurses and 10.82±1.94 for respiratory therapists. however,the best practice scores were seen in the respiratory therapists 9.64±0.78 (p=0.008). conclusion: the majority of the participants had adequate knowledge and even better practices,particularly respiratory therapists. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.