Respiratory Management and Splinting in the CPNE

[EquuszARNP]

Hiyas:

I'm taking my CPNE next month and was wondering about pillow splinting during respiratory management. The study guide says "Splinting can be provided by using a pillow or bath blanket or by instructing your patient to use his or her hands."

I think splinting is done during Respiratory Management if the patient has an incision that they will want to protect while doing DB&C, but I want to be sure, because the guide doesn't specify. Do we want to all patients splint with a pillow or only post-op patients?

Thanks,

Equusz

[RNandRRT]

You've got the right idea.

You usually only worry about splinting with patients that have some sort of abdominal or chest injury. (Surgery included) Broken ribs need to be splinted as well as any surgical incision that can pop open. A newly casted hip or leg fracture on bedrest probably doesn't need any splinting. But make sure you are assigned the "cough" portion of resp. mang. by your CE, because sometimes they will just assign IS so as not to stress the injury of the patient with coughing.

Good luck.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

If you're assigned Respiratory Management for a pt. and it's not an obvious one like a post-op, you can also ask the primary nurse during report if the patient has required splinting for pain control during any respiratory hygiene activities.