Respiratory Infection in Older Patients

This randomized controlled trial in older hospitalized patients found that a respiratory care bundle intervention did not significantly reduce the incidence of respiratory infections compared to usual care for the index admission. However, time to next admission for respiratory infection was significantly longer with the intervention compared to usual care. Aim: To evaluate whether a respiratory care bundle, compared to usual care, reduces respiratory infections during and after hospitalization. Methods: In this open-label, single-centre randomized controlled trial, we recruited patients \>65 years of age and admitted \<72 hours for non-respiratory conditions to a novel respiratory care bundle intervention (whole bed tilt, swallow screen, chlorhexidine mouth wash, and pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations) or usual care. Participants were followed up for 12 months. The primary endpoint was the development of respiratory infection during the index admission. The secondary endpoint was the time to next admission for respiratory infection.