(Torpy, 2007)

Some of the symptoms of ventilator assisted pneumonia may be the onset of fever, a higher white blood cell count, and a new or changing lung infiltrate that may be visible on a normal chest x-ray. Cultures taken as samples from the patient's airways may show the presence of microorganisms or bacteria and fungi that would eventually cause the dreaded ventilator assisted pneumonia in the patient. JAMA states that these risk factors may be eliminated to a large extent if the nurses and medical practitioners were to follow certain simple but essential steps in preventing the onset of the symptoms of pneumonia. First and foremost, the nurse must maintain a high degree of hygiene; he must wash his hands both before and after coming into contact with any patient, and second, he must try to keep the bed elevated to a 30 degree head up position, so that...
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