Best Evidence Summary for the Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Wenjuan Wu,1 Yuanxin Pan,1 Xiang An,1,2 Jiamin Lyu11Department of Medicine, Zhongshan People’s Hospital, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiang An; Jiamin Lyu, Email aaronan@henu.edu.cn; babyggq@163.comObjective: To retrieve, appraise, and synthesize the best available evidence on the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) from Chinese and international sources, and to provide evidence-based guidance for clinical nursing practice.Methods: Guided by the 6S evidence pyramid model, a comprehensive electronic search was conducted in BMJ Best Practice, UpToDate, the Guidelines International Network, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the American Association for Respiratory Care, the American Thoracic Society, CHEST, the Cochrane Library, the IBI Evidence-Based Health Care Center database, Embase, PubMed, Medlive, the Chinese Thoracic Society, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Database. The search period ranged from January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2026. Evidence summaries, clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews, and other evidence-based resources related to VAP prevention were retrieved. After quality appraisal and evidence synthesis, the best evidence was summarized.Results: A total of 24 publications were included, comprising 2 clinical decision support resources, 10 systematic reviews, 5 guidelines, and 7 evidence summaries. Thirty-three recommendations were synthesized into eight practical domains covering organizational strategies, prevention bundles, airway management, positioning, nutrition, device management, pharmacologic approaches, and non-recommended interventions.Conclusion: This evidence summary systematically synthesizes the best available evidence regarding VAP prevention and provides evidence-based guidance for standardized clinical management. These findings may support clinical decision-making and the development of nursing practice strategies for VAP prevention; however, further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing these recommendations in specific clinical settings.Keywords: pneumonia, ventilator-associated, prevention and control, evidence-based nursing, critical care nursing