Reduction of the Incidence of NAV in Neonatal Units (INBERNAV-Neo)

The search will be conducted in major biomedical databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus). The strategy will use MeSH and keywords related to VAP and neonatal populations, such as "ventilator-associated pneumonia," "VAP," "neonatal," and "mechanical ventilation." Filters will limit results to English and Spanish publications from 2015-2023, with periodic updates. Studies included will be randomized trials, cohort, case-control, reviews, and meta-analyses that assess preventive interventions or diagnostic procedures for VAP in neonates. Selected studies must describe applied methods and report quantifiable outcomes for VAP incidence or reduction. The analysis will focus on neonatal care, especially in NICUs. This approach enables synthesis of high-quality evidence, standardizes criteria, and identifies effective preventive strategies. The review will document practical interventions (hand hygiene, patient positioning, early extubation) and knowledge gaps.

This registry will collect demographic, clinical, and diagnostic data, including clinical, radiological, and microbiological criteria. Standardized forms will ensure consistency across centers, capturing variables such as coded patient ID, date of VAP diagnosis, criteria used, lab and imaging results, and treatments. The coordinating team will monitor and analyze data, communicate directly with participating centers, and prepare global reports for all investigators. This process will support comparison of diagnostic practices and assessment of inter-center variability. Data security and confidentiality will be ensured via regulatory compliance, restricted access, and audit systems. The platform will promote multicenter collaboration, enhance VAP surveillance, and improve NICU quality.

Based on the literature, training materials will be developed to unify diagnostic criteria and establish evidence-based preventive guidelines. The course will feature modules on neonatal VAP definition and epidemiology, consensus diagnostic criteria (clinical, radiological, and microbiological), and evidence-based preventive measures such as hand hygiene, ventilator care, patient positioning, and weaning. Additional topics include implementation, data recording, and quality monitoring. The platform will offer multimedia, forums, protocols, and certification assessments, with expert validation, instructional design, pilot testing, and ongoing refinement. Participants get methodological and technical support throughout the one-month course and indefinite access to materials and forums. Seven editions will be held to ensure full staff training at all participating centers.

In addition to unifying diagnostic criteria and implementing preventive measures, training in microbiological diagnosis using the telescoping catheter constitutes a specific component integrated into the project's training program. This technique is currently considered the most suitable for ensuring accurate diagnosis and demonstrates greater sensitivity compared to other more widely used methods. This component is addressed within the online course through a detailed video tutorial, a standardized protocol, and an infographic highlighting key concepts. Adoption of this technique in routine practice by hospitals (in cases where it was not previously implemented) will be evaluated through data reported in the Neo-NAV registry system.

Every four months, collaborating investigators from participating centers will enter standardized data on adherence to and effectiveness of preventive bundles, including hand hygiene, ventilator circuit care, endotracheal tube management, patient positioning, among others. At the initial meeting, before the start of training, centers will register all VAP preventive measures in use and provide information on the existing protocols for intubation, extubation, and cleaning practices. In subsequent meetings, centers will update the platform with any changes implemented. This process will allow monitoring of practice modifications and their impact on recorded episodes of pneumonia.

Diagnostic practices for VAP in neonates will be systematically documented across participating hospitals during the pre-intervention phase. This process will include recording, via the Neo-NAV platform, the application and frequency of clinical, radiological, and/or microbiological criteria routinely used for diagnosis, as well as collecting complementary information through specifically designed surveys. This will establish a baseline reference against which future interventions aimed at diagnostic standardization and improvement can be evaluated, and will also allow characterization of inter-institutional variability in diagnostic approaches and concordance among criteria applied.

This system will record both empirical and definitive antibiotic therapies prescribed for suspected VAP, including the drug administered and treatment duration while the patient remains under invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). In addition, all antibiotic therapies administered during IMV for infections not related to VAP will be documented.