Nursing Concept: Ventilator-Assisted Pneumonia

Introduction

One of the principal concepts in nursing today is prioritization. A concept can refer to mental formulations, images, abstractions, and words that people use to represent mental images. It, therefore, represents a mental or an ideal construction that is important for the construction of theories and research development. Prioritization subdivides into three parts. The first focuses on breathing problems, airways problems, vital signs concerns, and circulation problems Shultz & Hand, 2015). The second part focuses on pain, urinary elimination problem, changes in mental status, and untreated medical problem. The third is the health problems that do not fit in the two categories including family coping, activity, lack of knowledge and rest. If the nurse cannot prioritize, the patient may become exposed to infections such as ventilator-assisted pneumonia, which could be fatal. However, when the nurse can prioritize, she can help the patient maintain perfect health (Helvig, Wade &Eades, 2016). The nurse reduces the hospital stay or the length of stay in the ICU and can prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Burke &Balas (2014) and McEwen &Wills (2014) provide an intervention that can help nurses reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. The intervention is known as the ABCDE Bundle, which has three components. The first is the awakening and breathing coordination. The second is the management or monitoring of delirium, and the third is early. All these should be done by the nurse to help in the early mobilization of VAP among mechanically ventilated patients. For instance, in our unit, we get all the patients on ventilators out of bed every morning if they pass the spontaneous breathing trial. Virginia Henderson’s need theory is the most applicable to this problem. The nurses should have their focus on maintaining the health of the patient Robert, Tilley & Petersen, 2014). This theory takes into consideration four needs including psychological, physiological, social, and spiritual.