suctioning

[SNtil11]

I have a random question that came to me after I got home from clinical on Saturday. I helped my nurse perform suctioning on my peds patient (15 months). first question: the suction cath was inserted in the nose and down to the trachea: what kind of suctioning is this called? I never really thought about it when we were there since the order was just for 12 French deep suction. I would assume its called naso-tracheal?

second question: if the tube is inserted in the nose and then down ... what's to say that we are suctioning the trachea and not the esophagus? i mean, NG tubes are inserted in the same manner, so how would we know??

any answers/ideas are much appreciated. thanks!

[Scrubmouse RN]

It's nasopharyngeal suctioning. I'm not sure how you know you're not suctioning the esophagus though.

[pumpkiin*]

I don't know how you'll know if the suction is in the esophagus or not. This is just a guess. After inserting a suctioning tube into the patient, you'll probably meet a resistance after a while, which means you've hit the carina of the patient.

[SNtil11]

Thanks guys. I spoke with my instructor, and yes, the resistance is one sign. Another is that if you were in the esophagus you probably wouldn't be suctioning any secretions. And lastly, if you were entering the trachea, there is an initial cough reflex. If you were entering the esophagus, a gag reflex would be elicited instead. :) Thanks for the help!