comparing the effects of matrica and chlorhexidine on the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia

background and aim: ventilator-associated pneumonia (vap) is the second most common infection within intensive care units (icus). happening in patients requiring mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours, the disease is associated with high morbidity and mortality. this study aims to compare the effects of matrica and chlorhexidine mouthwashes on the prevention of vap among patients hospitalized in icus of selected hospitals in qom in 2013. methods: this random clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients admitted to the icus of selected hospitals in qom. the patients receiving mechanical ventilation had no record of pneumonia and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. the experimental group received the matrica mouthwash and the control group received 0.2% chlorhexidine twice a day. on the eighth day, the vap was determined using the clinical pulmonary infection score (cpis). the results were analyzed in spss 16.0 using chi-square, independent and paired t tests. the significant level was set at 0.05 results: incidence of vap was respectively 10 (33.3%) and 13 (43.3%) in matrica and chlorhexidine groups (p=0.42). moreover, the clinical pulmonary infection mean score for both groups showed no significant difference before the intervention (p = 0.31) and after it (p=0.79). conclusion: as regards the prevention of vap, there was no difference between the application of matrica and chlorhexidine mouthwashes for oral care.