STB VAP Committee

The VAP committee is a Quality Improvement focused group to reduce Pneumonia, ventilator-associated (VAP). The committee meets every month or every 2 months (it varies at times).

Data Collector Attendance

p:Valerie Penner to attend the STB VAP committee. If Valerie unable to attend then p:Stephanie Cortilet will attend.

Representatives (people who should receive emails about VAPs)

• Christina Kuttnig
• Carlos Molina
• Rob Arianos (Pharmacy)

Purpose and background

The committee reviews VAP statistics and does audits on the VAP bundle which is the clinical standards for the prevention of VAPS. The role of the data collector at the meeting is to report on the recent VAP cases that have been identified. Practice guidelines for VAP's are developed by group members which everyone contributes to. The committee has member representatives from pharmacy, respiratory, medicine, nursing and infection control. Each ICU at STB is represented (ICCS, ICMS and ACCU).

A SWOOP is an ongoing method of reviewing specific VAP cases as they are identified. The purpose is to establish if there was any compliance issue with the VAP bundle, to identify the risk factors and to see if anything could have been done to prevent this VAP. Once a VAP is identified following VAP criteria, the data collector emails the unit manager, educator, and certain VAP committee members who call a SWOOP. The SWOOP time and date is arranged by someone in the VAP committee (usually pharmacy) and is set up when most parties can attend. Ideally the attending physician, a representative from nursing, respiratory and pharmacy all will attend the SWOOP, which is held at the patient bedside. The data collector can attend the SWOOP but it is not essential. Once the SWOOP is completed, the person who calls the SWOOP (usually Dr.Rob Ariano), will send the SWOOP form template to the data collectors to complete their portion of the form. The data collector portion is the specific criteria for that patient that qualifies it as a VAP.