Nasal suction guidelines

[AbearsdenRNC]

We have a BIG problem in our NICU. It seems that nurses were "altering" the neosuckers by cutting the bulb tip off and then suctioning the nares with it. Also, nurses were using 8 french catheters in the nares to suction. We have had lots of nasal trauma as a result. One of our Nurse practitioners was so fed up that she threatened to call Risk Management if the Neo suckers weren't pulled immediately. The kicker is that I am the "Whistle blower" and the other nurses are really not happy with me, but I am not willing to stand by and watch these infants be traumatized. My nurse manager asked me to write a suctioning guideline. My delimma is there are limited resources and I am hoping there are others in my situation that can point me in the direction of some resources or share policies/ guidelines/ help/ ANYTHING with me.

Thanks a BILLION!

[skysurfer]

Dear Colleagues,

i am writing from Switzerland. We do not have such suction devices like the neosucker. We use atraumatic catheters. And here comes my question. Years ago i learned that one can insert a "atraumatic" catheter with applied suction. When i searched the internet and my literature i found no evidence to support that practice. They all seem to insert the catheter and apply suction when pulling back the catheter. Is there a bigger possibility to damage the nasal tissue by applying suction while inserting the catheter? Dont one "pushes" the mucus further down the nose when insertin a catheter without suction?

Is there any Literature available which shows a benefit of one ore the other technique?

Thanks for your Help.

PS i do apply suction when i insert a catheter into an ETT. Just to get the secretions that are within the ETT. But we do not suction deeper as the ETT Tip. So this shouldn`be a problem for damaging the Bronchus...

[pooh54]

Just remember to look at your suction catheters, use only the delee tip since the whistle tip can and will excise tissue when used

[gudiarani, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, NP]

The problem with suctioning on the way into an ETT is that you're adding negative pressure (suction) to a positive pressure environment (the vent), which is also why you should limit the amount of time applying negative pressure to 5-10 seconds to prevent hypoxemia.