[Vikingnurse]

Hi everyone!

We are a couple of nurses working on our suctioning procedure in our ICU. I am trying to find a "standard" description of tracheal secret.
What we noticed is that nurses write things like "water like", "thick", "moderate amount" or "not much".
Ofcourse it gives you a clue. But how much is "not much"?
Does any of you use some sort of chart or scale that somehow classifies the secretion so that all nurses understands the same, when someone writes moderate amount.

[Indy]

You need to know color, consistency, and amount. Examples: scant yellow stringy sputum. Or: moderate amount of tan, chunky secretions. If I suction enough to make it to greater than 10cc in the suction container OR if it fills up the line, I'll chart that specifically because that's a lot of sputum.

Color: green, white, clear, yellow, brown, tan, black, red, etc.
Consistency: thin, tenacious, stringy, chunky, sticky, etc. (If you see an actual recognizable item in there, like say, green beans, chart that.)
Amount: scant, moderate, large, or measurement in recognizable terms.

Does that help?

[lorilou22RN]

My favorite adjectives for secretions are: Copious quantity, and tenascious consistency. Sometimes you have to try to be a poet. LOL

[Indy]

Better to be poetic than to call it snot soup, I guess.

[Surgical Hrt RN]

Originally Posted by Indy

Better to be poetic than to call it snot soup, I guess.

Too funny!

[enviragirl]

We use computer charting and have a few options for the amount of secretions. Scant, Small (<30 mls/day), Moderate (30-100 mls/day), Large (>100ml/day) or copious. Our secretion description options to choose from are: thin,watery, thick, frothy, tenacious, purulent, clear, white, tan, green, brown, blood tinged, yellow, pink, and hemoptysis. This seems to pretty much cover it. Hope that this is helpful.