From Knowledge to Outcomes: The Effect of Nursing Care Bundle Training on Knowledge, Compliance, and Ventilator-associated Pneumonia Rates in Intensive Care Units (A Quasi-intervention Study, 2025).

Background

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious infection in ICUs, contributing to prolonged mechanical ventilation and higher mortality.

Objectives

This study aimed to enhance ICU nurses' knowledge and compliance with ventilator care bundle practices to reduce the incidence and mortality of VAP among mechanically ventilated patients at Benha University Hospitals.

Materials And Methods

This quasi-experimental study included all nurses working in the central and intermediate ICUs (N = 262). The intervention comprised 12 structured educational sessions and bedside demonstrations. Data collection included pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires to assess nurses' knowledge, observation checklists to measure compliance with the VAP care bundle, and patient surveillance records to track VAP incidence and mortality rates.

Results

Postintervention analysis revealed a significant improvement in nurses' knowledge scores on general infection control and VAP prevention guidelines, as well as a significant increase in compliance with the VAP care bundle (P < .001). General infection control knowledge score was a significant predictor of VAP prevention knowledge (B = 0.632, P < .01). Clinically, the program resulted in a nearly one-third reduction in VAP incidence (central ICU: -29.1%; intermediate ICU: -28.5%), preventing ∼1 infection for every 10 ventilated patients. Mortality among ventilated cases was cut by almost half in the intermediate ICU (-53.8%) and by one-third in the central ICU (-30.9%).

Conclusion

The care bundle training program significantly improved ICU nurses' knowledge, boosted adherence to evidence-based ventilator care practices, and contributed to lowering the VAP incidence rate and related mortality. These results represent not only statistical significance but also a substantial, life-saving impact.