oral care on vent patients

merlee · Feb 1, 2011

Google? Bing? Med-line?

highlandlass1592, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2011

You should start with the term "ventilator assisted pneumonia"...google it, use CINAHL, etc. The American Associat of Critical Care nurses has a position paper which has a great deal of references.

Due to issues with CMS and Medicare reimbursement, VAP, as it is called, is an area that if a patient develops, you may not get paid for that part of their treatment as it is now considered preventable. Many hospitals have developed programs to get their rate to almost 0, seems like every month a new hospital is featured in nursing journals.

You shouldn't have a problem with this one, just gonna need to do some work.

casi, ASN, RN · Feb 1, 2011

Try the library.

WillowNMe · Feb 1, 2011

Do you have access to CINAHL? That is where I find all of my articles for school. If you do not have direct access, I would talk to your school library and see if they can grant you access.

ObtundedRN, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2011

AACN has tons of articles a resources for this. You'd probably have to pay for a membership, but its a reduced cost for students, and it also allows you into your local AACN monthly meetings.

Also, try your local AHEC library. They usually give you free access, or at least mine does. Mine has online access that I can search for all the articles I want from tons of different journals of medicine or nursing.

Altra, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2011

What have you been taught regarding large medical science databases, etc.? Have you started with your school's librarian?

Biffbradford · Feb 1, 2011

The last hospital I worked at (non-teaching for the most part) had it's own library.

rkitty198, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2011

I think the journal Nursing2007 or Nursing2008 had an article on VAP...I cant remember the year, I have the issue floating around somewhere if you want me to get it let me know.

rn/writer, RN · Feb 1, 2011

Many great suggestions already.

Do try your school library as a starting place. If they don't have the information (or enough of it), they can certainly help to point you in the right direction.

Also try the hospital library where you are doing or will be doing clinicals. Hospital libraries subscribe to all kinds of specialty journals and are usually willing to help students learn how to track down research information.

You can look online but much of what you will find are abstracts--short summaries of actual articles. You'll be expected to subscribe (for a fee) to access the rest.

VAP (ventilator-associated pnuemonia) is a good heading to search under as its prevention is one of the most important goals of vent-related oral care.

Let us know what you find.

GilaRRT · Feb 1, 2011

Does it have to be a nursing journal? That sounds rather myopic IMHO? The AARC (American Association for Respiratory Care) among other organisations put out quite a bit of literature on this subject.