Abstract

Respiratory tract infections represent significant proportion of hospital acquired infections. About 15-20% of all hospital acquired infections are of the lower respiratory tracts which are the leading causes of mortality. Pulmonary ventilation or instrumentation may lead to nosocomial pneumonia. The primary risk factor for the development of hospital associated bacterial pneumonia is mechanical ventilation, which is often associated with a dramatic increase in length of hospital stay and total hospital costs. This study aims to assess infection control measures for patient caring on mechanical ventilation. The study was conducted in the respiratory intensive care unit at benha university hospitals on convenient sample of 60 nurses and physicians caring for patient on mechanical ventilation were recruited for the purpose of the study. Three tools were used, nursing assessment sheet, pretest to assess infection control practice and rating scale, questionnaire to assess attitude of the nurses and physicians included in the study. The highest percent of correct nurse's knowledge was for hand washing between patients