Frequency of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia with Closed Tracheal Suction versus Open Tracheal Suction

Objective: To determine frequency of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) with closed tracheal suction versus open tracheal suction. Study Design: Quasi Experimental Study. Place and Duration of Study: Medical ICU, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, Jul to Dec 2023. Methodology: Patients aged >15 years of either gender who underwent mechanical ventilation for above 48 hours were incorporated in this research. Patients not willing to take part, already diagnosed with pneumonia or pre-existing respiratory illness at the time of admission in intensive care unit and patients were intubated for more than 48 hours before admission to ICU were omitted. Selected 86 patients were allotted one of the two groups: Group C and Group O. Tracheal suction of Group C and Group O was performed using closed tracheal suction system (CTSS) and open tracheal suction system (OTSS) respectively. VAP occurrence as well as ventilator days of the two groups were compared. Duration of mechanical ventilation and developing VAP after 48 hours of intubation were recorded. Results: In O group, there were 25(58.13%) male patients and 18(41.86%) females. Thirteen out of 43 patients in C group (30.23%) developed VAP compared with 16 out of 43 patients (37.21%) in O group (p=0.494). In addition, mean number of ventilator days was 8.16±2.32 and 8.21±3.09 in C and O group respectively (p=0.937). Conclusion: Closed tracheal suction failed to decrease the frequency of VAP and ventilator days.