Abstract
Background: there have been many study in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), Although it
VAP remains the most diffuse Hospital aquired infection in intensive care units (ICU)(1). VAP worse patient
recovery and increasing length of hospitalization, duration of mechanical ventilation, and hospitalization
costs.(2)
Moreover, VAP is lead to increase mortality rates (14–70%), due to resistant bacteria, inappropriate
antimicrobial therapy use, and incorrect antimicrobial prescription or de-escalation therapy.(3, 4)
Patients and Methods: This study was done on 40 patients in ICU at Benha University Hospital in the period
from august 2017 to march 2019. who were put on mechanical ventilation and diagnosed to have VAP.19
patients died in our study and 21 patients were discharged alive.
Results: This study observed that error in maintenance dose treatment, error in treatment duration and delay
in starting antimicrobial therapy followed by the interval between doses, error in loading dose and
inappropriate adjustment for renal function. were found increased in patients who died. de-escalation therapy
compared to maintenance therapy lead to low mortality rates and higher mortality rates in older patients with
more comorbidities..
Keywords: ventilator-associated pneumonia; mechanical ventilation; antimicrobial prescription.