VAP: Just how good a benchmark is it really?

摘要

The headline pulls no punches. It reads: "Ventilator-associated pneumonia - the wrong quality measure for benchmarking."l This stunning beadline, which heralded a "Perspective" article in a recent edition of Annals of Internal Medicine, will no doubt grab the attention of quality improvement experts. After all, no lesser organization than the Institute for Healthcare Improvement included V AP, or ventilator-associated pneumonia, as a key objective in its "100,000 Lives Campaign," and YAP is also being considered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and The Joint Commission. Any number of hospitals have pursued and then trumpeted their successful reduction of V AP rates.