Does suctioning trach's ever get easier?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in MedSurg, OR, Cardiac step down.

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...

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Specializes in Gerontology.

Yes - it does get easier. I used to almost gag when doing trach care, now it doesn't it bother me at all.

Exposure is the key - the more you do it, the easier it will get. Don't run from it - force yourself to expose yourself to it!

Just take a deep breath and continue to deep breathe while you do it. Talk to the pt. Smile.

And don't worry if it bothers you. I know a lot of nurses who dislike trach care!

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I hate trachs, and the word "sputum" just sends shivers down my spine. That being said I work in pcicu & nicu and somehow the patients I always fall in love with are the trached pulmonary hypertension kiddos...or the floppy floppy ones with no muscle tone who need trachs because their not strong enough to breathe on their own (SMA kids just tug at my heartstrings).

So to answer your question, even if you never get used to all the sputum and other fun stuff from trachs, it does get easier to take care of them as you get used to them.

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Specializes in Emergency.

It does get easier, yes. But sputum is still my nursing kryptonite.

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

I guess I'm lucky, sputum never seemed to bother me! I do home health, and thanks to peoples' aversions to hockers, I'm more in demand and get extra hours all the time! :D

Now emesis... {shudder} :barf01:

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

Puke, sorta. Poop, what poop? Yeast, nah. Pus, what pus? Sputum, God help me.

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Specializes in LTC.

It does not get better for me. I hate trachs and gag everytime I have to do it.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

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.

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Specializes in CICU.
good nasty thick loogies...

You paint a veritable masterpiece with your words... Thanks for that...

:eek: Glad I already had breakfast!!!

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
You paint a veritable masterpiece with your words... Thanks for that...

:eek: Glad I already had breakfast!!!

That is the edited version. The previous version had colors and sound effects to boot.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/ER/Mat.

Everything gets easier... to do, you get so profficient at it u can do it backwards upside down eating a banana and toasting marshmallows. BUT will it get less .... aggravating to your stomach, MAYBE... depends on you. for me I CAN NOT AND WILL NOT EVER EVER EVER get past ostomies ... i am so fricken good at them i can clean, replace and put a new one on in less than 15 mins ... AND that sucker stays on for my whole 2days 2 nights rotation.

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Suctioning is good. It's one of those times you get a real feeling of accomplishment. You see the snot. You hear the snot being sucked. YOU KNOW you accomplished something. Magical!

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