KatieLisa

The trachea? Oh no, that's fine. I have friends with moms or older siblings who are nurses that do this to them all the time. I've always envied it actually.

about 6 inches til you reach the carina and feel resistance is when you stop advancing? Then you pull back a bit and begin suctioning.

Thanks for the response. Really appreciate it. -:)

I would think the inflammation was being caused by something irritating the airway (ie. the secretion that needs to be suctioned). But you said suctioning wouldn't help with wheezing, so I'm a bit confused.

I know it's caused by narrowing of airways due to inflammation. It's actually first semester articles and guides about trachs that I'm reading. But you are right, we are always supposed to go by the book.

Oh, i didn't know you could hear two abnormal breath sounds at the same time. So, you would suction if you heard wheezing and crackles, but you'd just give ventolin if it was just wheezing? That's weird because my readings says you would suction. Is it also possible to hear wheezing, or some other abnormal lung sounds, and decreased breath sounds at the same time? and in that case would you do both? Thanks. Sorry for the stupid questions, I'm just trying to learn.

I meant do you do both, or do you just suction or just administer the ventolin. I know ventolin is a prn med for wheezing for some of our patients and wheezing is also one of the reasons we are taught to suction. But what if the patient who has prn ventolin also has a tracheostomy and you hear wheezing? so do we just suction? administer ventolin? do both? Sorry if it's a stupid question.

So... if a patient with tracheostomy has wheezing and he has prn ventolin, would you suction and administer the prn ventolin, or would you just suction/administer ventolin and then evaluate? Thanks in advance for your assistance.