Can pt breath through nose w/ ETT?

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One of our intubated pt's was receiving PT and the PT was telling him "breath through your nose and out your mouth." I always thought when a pt was intubated, the cuff blocked off the airway and the tube was the only air source and the pt was unable to breath through any other means except the ETT. Am I confused?

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Specializes in icu/er.

idealy not, but i have witnessed a case or 2 similar to that. as far as i can explain it is if the balloon cuff is inflated properly and occludes the airway in the trachea, there should be no air escaping or passing around the ett, but if the cuff is somewhat deflated or not snug against the tracheal wall there will be an airleak, if the pt was on a vent you'd probably see low pip's. stranger than your 1st question, i've witnessed a nasal intubated pt one night sitting upright crossed legged in the bed having a whispering conversation with housekepping. needless to say he was extubatted as soon as we got a phone order. he was a etoh od and was out of his etoh funk..

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

RN1980!

EEWWW!!!!!!:lol2:

ebear

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Specializes in ICU.
idealy not, but i have witnessed a case or 2 similar to that. as far as i can explain it is if the balloon cuff is inflated properly and occludes the airway in the trachea, there should be no air escaping or passing around the ett, but if the cuff is somewhat deflated or not snug against the tracheal wall there will be an airleak, if the pt was on a vent you'd probably see low pip's. stranger than your 1st question, i've witnessed a nasal intubated pt one night sitting upright crossed legged in the bed having a whispering conversation with housekepping. needless to say he was extubatted as soon as we got a phone order. he was a etoh od and was out of his etoh funk..

Ahahahaha! I'd be aghast! Aahahah!

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I've had similar expiriences with nasaly intubated Pt's. The most memorable was a small (50ish K) girl (post op) who could verbally "burp" around the ETT cuff! I immediatly got a vital capacity of almost 3L, and a NIF of -350cmH2O! I called the doc and pulled it right away. To the OP, sounds like the PT was a little confused.

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