Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2007
Review Meta AnalysisPolicies for endotracheal suctioning of patients receiving mechanical ventilation: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
The Dutch Working Party on Infection Prevention (Werkgroep Infectiepreventie [WIP]) aimed to determine whether certain policies on endotracheal suctioning are better than others in terms of prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit. ⋯ The WIP recommends that there be no preferential use of either open or closed endotracheal suction systems to reduce the rate of VAP, but it elucidates that the quality of the evidence is low. Considerations other than prevention of VAP should determine the choice of the suction system. When closed systems are used, the WIP recommends changing the in-line suction catheters every 48 hours. In case of mechanical failure or soiling of the suction system, they may be changed more frequently.