Patients at risk: Any patient who is mechanically
ventilated is at risk for VAP. The rate of contracting
VAP has been described as 3 per cent per day during
the first week of mechanical ventilation, 2 per cent per
day during week 2 and 1 per cent per day in the ensuing
weeks4
. The overall incidence of VAP ranges widely,
from 5 to 67 per cent depending on the diagnostic
criteria used