trachs

I haven't dealt with trach tubes in quite a while. I am trying to remember about cuffed trachs, when they should be inflated, etc. If a pt was in long term care (ie-they didn't just freshly get the trach), would their cuff likely still need to be inflated during eating?

Any help with these tubes you can give me would be much appreciated :)

If their cuff is typically not inflated, then you would inflate it if they are having trouble breathing or their O2 sats began to drop. Some pts. in LTC DO have issues with dropping O2 sats when they eat even if they are not trached...just an FYI from our speech therapy dept. :-)

My client is a peds client, his cuff is always inflated, we deflate it QID for 20 min. at a time. That's just the way his order is written. Just remember to use minimal leak technique when doing this to avoid too much pressure on the trach wall.

So...I guess the answer depends on the pt.