Coral Springs Medical Center Sage: Oral Care Protocol - Case Study Example

The researchers aimed to assess whether the novel oral hygiene products indeed had an impact on the incidence of VAP. The research design consisted of pre-post test comparisons undertaken to utilize Statistical Process Control (SPC) methods (Carey & Lloyd, 2000; Shewhart,  1980, 1986;  Western Electric Company, 1984; Wheeler & Chambers, 1993). VAP incidence rates before the introduction of the new protocol were compared to the incidences when these were replaced. The u-chart has been utilized to establish the degree of the change following the change in oral protocol.

The u-chart illustrating these pre and post VAP incidences was drafted. Eight quarters of data from the baseline or pre-protocol period. All the data points fall between the upper control limit (UCL). The new oral hygiene protocol was introduced at the end of the 4th quarter of 1999. A vertical line has been drawn on the control chart to identify this point. The data after this point reflects a shift in the process. Not only are the control limits closer together, but the centerline has also dropped.

The VAP rate during the baseline period was 5.6 VAPs per 1,000 ventilator days with the comparative reference mean rate from the NNIS database being 9.9 per 1,100 vent days from December 1999. After the protocol was introduced, the rate dropped to 2.2 per 1,000 ventilator days with the comparative reference mean rate from the NNIS database being 8.7 per 1,000 vent days from December 2001 (Schleder, Scott, & Lloyd, 2002). While there are fewer data points used in this analysis than desired, the preliminary results suggest that the new oral care procedure may be playing a key role in reducing the VAP rate at Good Shepherd Hospital.

Further study is apparently warranted to validate these results. The succeeding investigations ought to take into consideration the following: Establish as an experimental or quasi-experimental design to test the new protocol against the conventional approach (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Establish as a multi-site design that would engage various severity degrees of the same diagnosis and comparisons across differing diagnosis categories.