Learning Objective #1: compare incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia between traumatic brain injured patient who recieve nursing care following clinical nursing practice guideline and usual care

Learning Objective #2: compare duration of mechanical ventilation between traumatic brain injured patient who recieve nursing care following clinical nursing practice guideline and usual care

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The two-group post test quasi-experimental design was conducted to determine effectiveness of the clinical nursing practice guidelines for prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia among traumatic brain injured patients. The samples consisted of 40 traumatic brain injured patients with mechanical ventilator in the intensive care unit of Sawanpracharak hospital, Nakornsawan province, 20 of which, were intervention group and 20 of which, were control group. Data were collected from November 1, 2006 to November 30, 2007. Outcome measurement were the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia and duration of mechanical ventilation. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test and t-test.

The findings showed that

1. The clinical nursing practice guidelines group had more significantly decreased the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia than the control group (p < .05)

2. The clinical nursing practice guidelines group had more significantly decrease the duration of mechanical ventilator than the control group (p < .05)

The findings indicated that the clinical nursing practice guidelines could help patients with traumatic brain injury to decrease the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia and duration of mechanical ventilation. Therefore, utilization of this clinical nursing practice guideline is recommended to prevent the occurrence of VAP in order to improve the quality of care.