Published Paper Details:

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) continues to be a significant problem in hospital environments due to its exceptionally high cost, morbidity, and mortality rates. Because of the significance of this medical conditions, it is critical to take preventative steps when providing care for patients on mechanical ventilation. As a common nosocomial illness, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) need trained nursing staff who adhere to established guidelines to enhance patient outcomes. 350 critical care nurses working in various ICUs of an Indian tertiary care hospital participated in a descriptive survey. A self-structured questionnaire was utilized in conjunction with a basic random selection procedure. We looked into the relationship between oral care practices and demographic characteristics using Mann Whitney and ANNOVA. There were 219 (62.6%) critical care nurses with good practice scores, 122 (34.9%) with average practice scores, 5 (1.4%) with exceptional practice scores, and 4 (1.1%) with poor practice scores. The age range of 31 to 35 years old is represented by Critical Are nurses, who adhere to the best oral care practices. Higher professional qualification graduates were found to execute VAP preventive methods more effectively. There was no discernible effect of the nurse-to-patient ratio, hospital type, or critical care setting on promoting appropriate oral hygiene practices for ventilated patients. It has been demonstrated that oral health education, ICU training, and the availability of oral care protocols encourage improved preventative practices in critical care nurses. It is discovered that gender has little bearing on oral care procedures. When providing oral care to ventilated patients, married critical care nurses adhered to greater standards. Hindu critical care nurses have advanced care techniques. The primary nursing bottlenecks for giving oral care to ventilated patients are lack of doctors, concern of tube displacement, lack of time, lack of confidence, and inadequate supplies and equipment.