Nasopharyngeal and Oropharyngeal Suctioning: Pre-Procedure (Nursing)

00:00 Hi guys, welcome to oro-nasopharyngeal suctioning. Okay, so let's break down this word.

00:10 Really we're just talking about suctioning in either the oral or the nasal cavity. So who we going to do this for? This is going to be for a patient that has really thick secretions and they probably can't clear it on their own or sometimes a patient just has a weak cough or they're weak overall and they can't clear those secretions. So now let's take a look at some of the stuff we're going to need. We're definitely going to need a suction canister here with the suction component that's on the wall and making sure this is functioning. We need a water soluble lubricant because we want to make sure the catheter that we used is lubricated for easy passage down either cavity. Also, making sure you're using sterile saline solution.

00:56 Notice here we're talking about sterile water. Now remember, anything down the respiratory tract is going to be a sterile procedure. Now let's make sure we get our kit. Most of the time it's going to have just our catheter in here which is great. Sometimes it will come with some other key equipment, but really just make sure you have your sterile suction catheter.

01:18 Make sure again, if not with the kit, you have your own pair of sterile gloves, and a towel just for the patient just to make sure we protect their gown so it doesn't get soiled. Now before we start anything, don't forget your hand hygiene. Now make sure you explain this procedure to the patient. It shouldn't be painful; however, it may be a little bit uncomfortable for the patient so make sure you worn them. Now we want to make sure we provide privacy and also raise the bed to an appropriate working height for us. Now if the patient can tolerate it, ideally we have them either in a semi or a high Fowler's position like you see in this image. Again, high Fowler's, think about 90 degrees. The higher up, the easier. Now we want to put our equipment on a bedside table and make sure that's clean because again we're using sterile equipment here. And again, before you get started make sure you check the suction for proper functioning. We don't want to open our sterile equipment and then realize "Oh, this suction device isn't working." So make sure you check that first. Then make sure we open that sterile saline solution, we go ahead and open up our packages and then we perform our hand hygiene. Now, notice we're going to open those things up first because this is not sterile yet, right, this is the outside of the package. So again, perform your hand hygiene and then don any PPE you may need. Now this is going to vary depending on what you're dealing with. Sometimes the patient's in some sort of a respiratory isolation. If that's the case, you may need full gown, gloves, eye protection. So just make sure you're aware and you assess your patient. Now again, before we get started, you want to evaluate and assess. So check either the nares or the oral cavity for patency before you insert the catheter. And again, it's a good idea, here's back to that assessment again, to check the patient's breathing pattern, check their oxygenation, maybe use a pulse oximeter to see what their baseline assessment for the respiratory condition is. Now, let's prep our patient.

03:29 Put a towel across their chest. Sometimes there may be excess mucus or sterile water that gets on their gown so make sure we protect the patient here. Now we can turn on our wall suction.