• Jordi Rello, Jean Chastre, Giuseppe Cornaglia, and Robert Masterton.
• Critical Care Department, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Institut de Recerca Vall d'Hebron-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Barcelona, Spain. jrello.hj23.ics@gencat.cat
• J Crit Care. 2011 Feb 1;26(1):3-10.

BackgroundAlthough there is a wealth of guidance concerning the management of patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), compliance with recommendations concerning optimal treatment practices is highly variable.MethodsThis document presents a comprehensive care bundle package addressing all aspects of VAP diagnosis and treatment in an attempt to promote guideline-compliant practices. Uniquely, the development of these care bundles used a formalized method to assess the supporting data, based on multicriteria decision analysis.ResultsThis system allowed the numerous VAP management parameters identified from recent European guidelines to be ranked according to defined criteria. The resulting VAP care bundles are (a) diagnosis: early chest x-rays within 1 hour, immediate reporting of respiratory secretions Gram staining, and (b) therapy: immediate treatment, empiric therapy based on local pathogens and risk factors, de-escalation, assessment of response within 72 hours, and short therapy duration if feasible.ConclusionAdoption of these care bundles should rationalize VAP management practices and facilitate the development of consistent and guideline-compliant care processes.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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