My Pneumonia Prevention Program

Written by Nurse Dina

Early identification and prevention of Pneumonia is my classic example of how basic bedside care can make the difference in patient satisfaction as well as clinical outcome. The connection between patient and clinician is a lost art but is key to saving deaths, dollars, debilitation, discomfort, and days in the hospital. My vision of a world without Pneumonia when I was a new nurse many years ago, when I saw someone get better in my hands with my diligent bedside care: pursed lip breathing, pulmonary hygiene, oral hygiene, percussion and postural drainage, pain management, mobility, early detection of the subtle signs of struggles.

This vision has grown stronger as my career has taken many different paths and twists.

One day in 2009, my sister, a Respiratory Therapist, and I were sitting in my living room sipping coffee. I was exhausted after working a string of 12 hour shifts in ICU. We were discussing Pneumonia Prevention, an odd topic over coffee, I know. I was discouraged. I was seeing preventable cases on Pneumonia almost daily. In my experience, we could stop this with simple HandsOn measures. Back then, Basic Bedside care was rapidly changing along with a changing Healthcare Industry, but no one should struggle to breath unnecessarily if I had information and the experience to stop it. My sister was working in a hospital where those “old school” Pneumonia Prevention methods were utilized daily, and they had Zero cases of Hospital Acquired Pneumonia. That day, my protocol was born. We decided to do something about it and got to work on it.

The Protocol

I presented my Basic Bedside Pneumonia Prevention formula to a team I assembled in 2010: doctors, nurses, therapists, administrators, researchers. One of our team members said, “Dina, this is flying under the radar!”. Not my radar. Everyone who encountered this work became excited and wanted to be a part of it, and it took off like wildfire. HAPPI, Hospital Acquired Pneumonia Prevention Initiative, has since spread throughout the world.

The World

I envision a world without Pneumonia. I’ve done it, I’ve seen it, I’ve proven it. One person, one hospital, one community at a time. I believe we can do it together, and so CAPPI was born: Community Acquired Pneumonia Prevention Initiative. The original intention of HAPPI was CAPPI. Advocating for global changes, HandsOn, one caregiver, one breath at a time.

My pneumonia prevention obsession has been the fight of my life. As in all advocacy situations, when you feel like giving up you realize that you are fighting for life, for breath, for relief, for someone who is suffering.