Does suctioning trach's ever get easier?

Nurses General Nursing

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I got my 1st experience with a trach today, I must say cleaning up my patients BM was much easier to stomach than the mucous secretions :eek:. I must say, I got to give a hand to those that chose to go into respiratory...

Specializes in Pediatrics and geriatrics.
I should have gone into respiratory therapy, I love trachs! Seriously, it may sound weird but on your pts that are bad, having that airway is always nice. Plus with inline suctioning, it is so much easier to get those good nasty thick loogies out.

Those are the ones I refer to as "Everlasting gob stoppers". You know when you are suctioning a trach and it seems to take forever to get the thick loogies out!!

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Specializes in Hospice, HIV/STD, Neuro ICU, ER.

Know how to tell the difference between nurses and RTs? Put both in a room and fill it to chin level with poop and then hawk a big loogie at them. The RTs stay standing and the nurses duck.

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Specializes in PCU, LTC.

It depends on you. Sputum used to make me gag far more than feces. Working in cardiac, and LTC before this, I've seen FAR more feces than sputum, and now sputum doesn't bother me at all, but feces still makes me gag. Now I actually enjoy suctioning, because you see immediate benefits.

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CloudySue- You hate puke too?!?! I can't stand it!! :p

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

Everybody has their "thing" -- some nurses can't stand a GI bleed, others can't stand trach care, so they swap off. Each to their strengths. But learn how to do it well, because we're getting a ton of those where I work from long term vent dependency.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I work in home health, and sputum has never bothered me. I've never had problems suctioning trachs. Diarrhea is my nursing kryptonite.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I don't mind it too much and yes - we do a lot of that in private duty nursing. I very much mind when the preceding nurse leaves a nasty *** canister full of that shift's "results".

The only time in my entire career that someone said "you saved my life" was when I was able to get a stubborn plug out of their airway.

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I don't mind it too much and yes - we do a lot of that in private duty nursing. I very much mind when the preceding nurse leaves a nasty *** canister full of that shift's "results".

Trach care never bothered me. What I never liked was nurses who would leave the suction canister full and breeze out the door.

In our house, I put a dash of minty Listerine in the canister every time it was washed. It's not quite minty fresh at the end of a shift but it doesn't smell overwhelmingly awful and if you use blue or green it helps to make the color far less gross when you are suctioning a lot of disgustingness out of the trach.

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I hate it when I come to work on Monday and find my home health client's trach area nasty, nasty, nasty, with a nasty odor, the secretions have turned three different shades of color, and the same trach tie is on their neck that I placed there on Friday. I suction, and suction, and suction some more to start out the shift after dumping the malodorous canister full of nasty production from the weekend. Then I have to determine if the client is sick from the weekend of neglect. Next week, the same thing all over again. Why someone would sign off on doing trach care and changing a trach tie, and even the suctioning itself, without doing any of these tasks is beyond me.

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I'm only a nursing student but I'm really worried about how I will cope when I come across someone with one.

I had one when I was thirteen and whenever I see people now with them I just get weird subconscious feelings like I'm going to choke and get really anxious.

Not much else in life bothers me, but for some reason trach's scare the living daylight out of me.

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Specializes in Cardiac, PCU, Surg/Onc, LTC, Peds.

I'll take a trach any day over a bm, I LOVE suctioning. I guess that's why I'm on a respiratory unit ;)

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Specializes in Cardiac, PCU, Surg/Onc, LTC, Peds.
I'm only a nursing student but I'm really worried about how I will cope when I come across someone with one.I had one when I was thirteen and whenever I see people now with them I just get weird subconscious feelings like I'm going to choke and get really anxious.Not much else in life bothers me, but for some reason trach's scare the living daylight out of me.
I can only imagine how terrible it would be to have one personally. But try to concentrate when you're with a trach pt how you can use you're personal experiences to help them and I bet it will make it a little easier, perhaps?
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