Suction

[Kathylee460]

I am a pediatric home health nurse. I have a patient in a vegetative state. No trache. We suction his mouth with a yankeur tip. It gets the saliva but that is all. He frequently gets mucus in upper throat area and we can't get to that with the yankeur. He won't cough it up. So he gurgles. I worry about him aspiring this. He has been taken off all secretion medications (glycopyralate). CPT is not ordered. HOB is elevated. Is there a trick or tip someone knows on a way to get this mucus without gagging him or causing him to vomit formula?? He is tube fed and NPO

[LovingLife123]

I’d use the longer catheters to deep suction. A yankeur isn’t going to get those deep secretions. They come in oral kits or you can use a catheter that is used for trach suctioning. I don’t know what you have access to.

Why are they not trached if they can’t protect their airway?

[caliotter3]

You need to speak to his PCP regarding this. S/he could prescribe the soft trach suctioning catheters or ‘red robins’ to be provided by the supply company. Or perhaps decongestants or some other med to control the post nasal secretions.