How to get over feeling squeamish with trachs

[luvapug]

Trach suctioning has always made me very queezy. I've never been good with sputum. The whole airway thing makes me extremely nervous too. However, I'm wondering if this is something I can become desensitized to if I do it often enough. Has anyone else felt the same way and gotten over it?

[trauma_lama, BSN]

LOL!!! I was ok with wounds until the first time I saw a tunneling wound and pulled 3 feet of gauze out of a man's leg. I barely made it through re-packing before I ran outta the room and lost my lunch. lol

oh my gosh. just reading that made me feel so disgusted. ewwwwwwwwwwww (and thanks for sharing, i hope it will help in the efforts to toughen my wound-treating self up)

[trauma_lama, BSN]

LOL!!! I was ok with wounds until the first time I saw a tunneling wound and pulled 3 feet of gauze out of a man's leg. I barely made it through re-packing before I ran outta the room and lost my lunch. lol

I thought I was pretty tough, too. In nursing school, I was working in a large metropolitan hospital intensive care unit. We had an obese patient who had been injecting a recreational drug into the back of the thighs/buttocks. This drug did not have intended effects by being injected into adipose tissue, so I have no idea why this was being done. The patient developed infection/necrotizing fasciitis. The entire posterior low back/buttocks/thighs were eaten by this bacteria. I had to help the residents pull out all of the packing to apply bacterial rinses/debride, etc. They pulled out packs and packs and packs out of these cavernous wounds. It seemed like I was in a meat packing facility rather than a hospital. I couldn't believe my eyes, couldn't believe this patient was alive, much less tolerating the pain of this condition. As they pulled out the umpteenth wad of packing out of this patient, I glimpsed the vertebrae of the low back. Here came the white spots, then the nausea, then the feeling of seeing and hearing the goings on from a distance. GONE.

One of the residents helped me up and out of the room. I was about to thank him when he curtly told me I would never be able to be a nurse if I didn't "toughen up."

So, it happens. That probably wouldn't faze me now.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....!!! haha so this is like a car accident- i would hate to see it but i don't think i could look away!

[luvapug]

Well thanks for all the good advice and for helping me see that trach suctioning is not the worst thing out there for me by far!

[obasnurse]

I am glad too someone asked this question! I am pretty good with the body fluids, blood even urine and BM don't bother me much as long as my gloves are on, but mucus or snot.... thick, thin, clear, green, slow dripping, or shot out like a cannon, I gag in my throat and concentrate on it not showing on my face. I think how would I want someone to react to my kid, my granda, me? I wash my hands for several minutes after and think to myself " wow is this ever going to get easier?"

[tiroka03, LPN]

When I empty a cansister at the shifts end, I reach it over the toilet, look the other way and when I hear it'd empty, I quick hit the flush lever and run like a crazy person. It's not so much I hate the gunk, but i am not crazy about the toliet spraying any of it back in the air as a flush.

I am not a fan of trachs, but have had to deal with them for years. A lot of pts are in comma's and just cough it out automatically. I have had to learn to watch out for that. I would just say, when you suction, do a through job of it, so you will have to do it less often. If you have any prn meds to reduce the secretions or prn nebs, or even tylenl use them. It really lessens the stress the patient has, and then in return it reduces the amount of times you will need to suction.

[tiroka03, LPN]

I would also say, trach care and suctioning, and prn meds if needed should be given right away as you start your shift. That way you know where you stand with that patient. You also don't have to worry about the care - or lack thereof from the previous shift. You start new and fresh.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

When I was a fairly new nurse (

I just hurled a little.

Anyway, I agree with everyone else...practice makes perfect.

Also, think of when you have to clear your throat and how much better you feel afterwards. Imagine if you couldn't do it yourself. That is how these patients feel! If you put it in perspective it helps a lot!

Finally, never forget eye and face protection!

[FLArn]

The plastic suction canisters if your facility uses them are meant to be single use items. They are to be sealed and disposed of in the bio-hazard box. I NEVER empty them, my health is worth the couple of bucks they cost the facility. I even offered to pay for them one place to show I was serious about it when they wanted us to reuse them. They never took me up on it. LOL

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

LOL!!! I was ok with wounds until the first time I saw a tunneling wound and pulled 3 feet of gauze out of a man's leg. I barely made it through re-packing before I ran outta the room and lost my lunch. lol

umm I witnessed this once when I was a tech, nurse brought me in to the room to show me something "cool", never felt so nauseous at work ever! This pt had apparently had a heart cath and the vein got infected and tunneled away, I watched him repack it too with feet and feet of half inch gauze

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

and as disgusting as it is and no one "loves" to do it...it is sooooo important as a plugged trach can mean death. Recently there was a kiddo who coded in my nicu and we changed the trach out during the code (now with these kids its not usually ever the trach but we change it just in case) his trach was plugged from top to bottom, who knows how long he had been struggling to breathe :-(

[HazelLPN, LPN]

I have been a nurse for over 50 years and I still HATE suctioning the snot out of a trach. Intubated patients are no problem for me. Every nurse has her Achilles heel.