Commentary
Asking the right questions: the relationship between incident ventilator-associated pneumonia and mortality
1 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
2 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Intermountain Medical Center, Shock-Trauma Intensive Care Unit, 5121 S. Cottonwood Street, Murray, UT 84107, USA
Critical Care 2012, 16:123 doi:10.1186/cc11308
See related research by Forel et al., http://ccforum.com/content/16/2/R65
Published: 30 April 2012Abstract
Whether ventilator-associated pneumonia is a manifestation of severity of illness or an independent cause of mortality in ventilator-dependent patients is not known. In this complex area, which cannot be readily subjected to randomized controlled trials, studies should focus on the underlying questions of relevance, how to improve care of ventilated patients.
