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). These patients require the assistance of a ventilator to breathe. 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 toolkit consists of four modules and other resources for improving care of mechanically ventilated patients. The modules and included materials offer guidance on utilizing the many materials in this toolkit.

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.

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.

Page last reviewed January 2017
Page originally created March 2015

Internet Citation: Toolkit To Improve Safety for Mechanically Ventilated Patients. Content last reviewed January 2017. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/hais/tools/mvp/index.html