Objectives: To explore critical care nurses’ knowledge of, adherence to and barriers towards evidence-based guidelines for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia

. Design: A quantitative cross-sectional survey. Methods: Two multiple-choice questionnaires were distributed to critical care nurses (n=101) in a single academic centre in Finland in the autumn of 2010. An independent-samples t-test was used to compare critical care nurses’ knowledge and adherence within different groups. The principles of inductive content analysis were used to analyse the barriers towards evidence-based guidelines for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Results: The mean score in the knowledge test was 59.9%. More experienced nurses performed significantly better than their less-experienced colleagues (p=0.029). The overall, self-reported adherence was 84.0%. The main self-reported barriers towards evidence-based guidelines were inadequate resources and disagreement with the results as well as lack of time, skills, knowledge and guidance. Conclusion: There is an ongoing need for improvements in education and effective implementation strategies. Clinical implications: The results could be used to inform local practice and stimulate debate on measures to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia. Education, guidelines as well as ventilator bundles and instruments should be developed and updated to improve infection control.