Does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ventilator-Associated Event Definition Unintentionally Contradict Its Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative?

To the Editor—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) introduced a ventilator-associated event (VAE) definition in January 2013 in an effort to provide an objective, reliable approach to surveillance for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) [1]. Prior definitions for pneumonia (PNEU definition) contained many subjective elements including requirement for chest radiographic evidence of pneumonia, which drew criticism and skepticism from care providers [2, 3].

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