Toolkit To Improve Safety for Mechanically Ventilated Patients
The Toolkit To Improve Safety for Mechanically Ventilated Patients helps hospitals make care safer for mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units (ICUs). ICU staff can use the toolkit to apply the proven principles and methods of AHRQ’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to reduce complications for patients on ventilators. Such complications include ventilator-associated pneumonia, which affects as many as 20 percent of patients who are on a ventilator for more than 48 hours. The toolkit includes resources used by hospitals that participated in the AHRQ Safety Program for Mechanically Ventilated Patients project.
How To Use This Toolkit
The four modules in this toolkit contain guides, tools, and educational slide sets that illustrate concepts in the modules. The modules and included materials can be used in any order or combination, and their use should be tailored to your facility’s needs.
Toolkit Modules
The toolkit consists of four modules and other resources that will help ICUs uncover local defects, implement interventions to prevent ventilator-associated events, and build a sustainable safety culture.
- Module on How To Apply CUSP for Mechanically Ventilated Patients
- Technical Bundles Module
- Ventilator-Associated Events and Outcome Measures Module
- Sustainability Module
- Other Resources
About the Toolkit Development
The toolkit was developed as part of a 3-year project, the AHRQ Safety Program for Mechanically Ventilated Patients. This project was developed to help staff in intensive care units use CUSP principles to reduce complications from mechanical ventilation, including ventilator-associated pneumonia. The project was conducted through a partnership that brought together subject matter experts and providers in the field.
