CPIS helps estimate the likelihood that a ventilated patient has developed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), combining clinical, radiographic, and lab findings into a single score.
VAP less likely — reconsider antibiotics.
VAP more likely — supports antibiotic therapy pending cultures.
No — it's a bedside estimation tool to help decide whether to start or continue antibiotic therapy while awaiting definitive culture results, not a standalone diagnostic test.
A score above 6 suggests ventilator-associated pneumonia is more likely. Below that, VAP is less likely and antibiotics may be reconsidered.
Worsening oxygenation not explained by ARDS suggests new lung consolidation, one of the signals that a ventilated patient may have developed pneumonia.
Its accuracy is modest and interobserver variability exists, so it supplements — rather than replaces — clinical judgment and microbiology.