Sage Products Provides Grant to Study Incidence of Pneumonia in Hospitalized Patients

Sage Products LLC has partnered with National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) to convene an expert committee to guide study of non-ventilator associated hospital-acquired pneumonia. The study will be conducted in a variety of hospital settings to determine the incidence of NV-HAP in hospitalized patients, a complication that may be under-reported.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), which occurs in patients who require mechanical assistance in breathing, has long been a target of patient safety efforts because of the high risk to patients in intensive care units. Recent studies suggest, however, that large numbers of patients not on ventilators may also contract pneumonia while hospitalized, leading to extended hospital stays and treatment for patients and added costs of care.

Barbara Quinn, MSN, ACNS-BC, RN, clinical nurse specialist at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif., and Dian Baker, RN, PhD, associate professor in the School of Nursing, California State University, are principal investigators of the study. “Our previous research suggests that NV-VAP is an under-studied and under-reported hospital-acquired infection,” says Quinn. “The replication study is a national, multisite study seeking to more extensively quantify the potential scope of NV-HAP in all types of hospitals.”

Quinn and Baker will lead a team of researchers at 15 sites throughout the country, representing small, medium, and large hospitals. The research teams will conduct, chart and review to assess the incidence of NV-VAP in hospitalized patients. The Sutter Institute for Medical Research will serve as a central point of data collection and processing for the study.

The NPSF, a central voice for patient safety since 1997, will provide oversight for a research study that is seeking a better understanding of non-ventilator associated hospital acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP). “Our foundation’s role in the study will be to recruit clinicians who have expertise in pneumonia prevention as well as the conduct of research to serve on an oversight committee that will monitor and guide the work of these researchers,” says Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, president and CEO of NPSF. “This is an important new area of inquiry for prevention strategies.”

The study is being underwritten by a generous grant from Sage Products LLC, which will have no influence on data collection, data analysis or manuscript preparation. 

“Research by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety authority in 2012 supports that NV-HAP is actually a larger problem than VAP,” says Karen K. Giuliano, RN, PhD, clinical outcomes researcher for Sage Products. “We are very excited that the National Patient Safety Foundation has agreed to provide a Research Oversight Committee to oversee the work of the principal investigators in order to add to the body of knowledge on this important patient safety issue.”

Source: Sage Products LLC