Ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP) have been estimated to be the second most
common nosocomial infections among children treated in intensive care units. Nurses have the
most critical role in implementing most of the VAP preventive measures. The aim of the study
was to assess the effect of teaching evidence based guidelines on nurses' knowledge and
performance to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia among children. Quasi-experimental
research design was used in this study. Convenient sample used in this study (forty nurses) at
pediatric intensive care units. Two standard tools were used to collect the essential data. The
main results were the majority of the nurses (87.5%) in the pre-test had unsatisfactory
knowledge. The nurses' scores of knowledge were improved in the post-test after applying the
guidelines and main self reported barriers were lack of knowledge, lack of skills and lack of
resources. There is a strong positive correlation between degree of knowledge and degree of
application (r= 0.62). The study concluded that the unsatisfactory knowledge of nurses was a
barrier to be well applying the evidence based guidelines. Highly statistical significant differences
were found between the nurses' knowledge in the pre-post test (P-value <0.001). The study
recommended farther educational, training program and workshop to improve nurses' level of
knowledge and improve the nurses' performance as well regarding the preventive measures of
VAP among children