Preventing Non-Device Related Pneumonia with Comprehensive Oral Care

Abstract

METHODS: We used a descriptive, retrospective comparative study to determine changes in oral care delivery and incidence of NV-HAP. We implemented a universal (all adult units and all perioperative patients) standardized oral care protocol from May 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014 at a 550 bed urban hospital. We computed percent of oral care delivered, NV-HAP cases/total discharges, and odds ratio of NV-HAP during the intervention period compared to the reference period. RESULTS: Implementation of a universal oral care protocol resulted in a 70% decrease in NV-HAP in the year 2014, with a 75% decrease in post-operative patients (P < .0001:OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.38, 0.70). Since 2012, we avoided 170 cases of NV-HAP and prevented 32 patient deaths. In addition, we saved $6.8M in costs, minus $320K for therapeutic equipment and supplies, which resulted in a return on investment of $6.48M.