Ventilator associated events
MedEd Bytes*
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MedEd Bytes is a video series that offers a quick and digestible learning format that can help solidify your understanding of different therapies leveraged in patient monitoring and respiratory interventions. In this series, we’ll cover topics such as capnography waveforms, the technology behind pulse oximetry, modes of ventilation, and more. To stay up to date with the series, please subscribe to our YouTube channel or start watching the series below.
- Bispectral Index™ monitoring
- INVOS™ monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit
- McGRATH™ MAC video laryngoscope
- NICU airway management
- Out-of-hospital remote patient monitoring
- Perioperative neurocognitive disorders
- Pulse oximetry and equitable monitoring
- Remote wearable monitoring
- Understanding Microstream™ capnography waveforms
- Ventilator associated events
- Ventilator breath delivery
Ventilator associated events
The ventilator associated event (VAE) surveillance criteria is designed to capture infectious and non-infectious complications associated with mechanical ventilation.1 It is estimated that around 30% of ventilated patients in the ICU develop a VAE.1 VAEs can lead to serious complications, including death.1
In the following bytes, we will review how VAEs are diagnosed, outline the types of VAEs, discuss the methods for preventing VAEs, and consider the methods for VAE surveillance.
Byte 1: What are ventilator associated events?
A ventilator associated event is a complication or infection occurring in patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation that is severe enough to cause respiratory worsening.1
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Byte 2: How are VAEs diagnosed?
The definition or trigger of a VAE is a generalizable change and increase in mechanical ventilation support after a period of stability or decreasing support.1
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Byte 3: Types of VAEs
VAEs are stratified into tiers of complication types called ventilator-associated condition (VAC), infection-related ventilator-associated complications (IVAC), or possible ventilator-associated pneumonia (pVAP).1
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Byte 4: How are VAEs prevented?
There are three main methods by which VAEs can be decreased: avoiding intubation, minimizing the duration of intubation, and targeting those conditions that are closely associated with or can trigger a VAE.2-4
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Byte 5: Surveillance of VAEs
The VAE surveillance criteria uses quantitative variables that may be incorporated into the electronic medical record, making computerized VAE surveillance feasible.5
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