To summarize the best evidence for prevention and management of aspiration in neurosurgical ICU patients and provide evidence for clinical nursing work.

Relevant evidence on prevention and management of aspiration in neurosurgical ICU patients, including guidelines, consensus, system reviews, and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which were published from 1st January, 2010 to 30th June, 2019 in any language was retrieved from guideline websites, relevant websites and databases. Two researchers evaluated the quality of the included literature and performed evidence extraction on those literatures that met the quality standards.

Totally 9 clinical practice guidelines, 8 expert consensus, 13 Meta analysis / systematic reviews and 10 RCTs were included, which were collected and extracted to form the final version of best evidence for aspiration prevention and management including 10 primary indicators and 29 secondary indicators.

Medical staff should take effective measures in early assessment of aspiration risks, artificial airway management, position management, enteral nutrition management, sedation and analgesia management, etc., and reduce the incidence of aspiration in neurosurgical ICU patients by applying the best evidence. In addition, hospitals should provide various forms of education and training to medical staff, form transdisciplinary cooperation teams, and strengthen the prevention and management of aspiration.

Neurosurgery; Critical medicine; Evidence-based nursing; Aspiration; Prevention; Management