Tracheostomy Care: Post-procedure and Possible Complications (Nursing)

00:04 Now, once we finished the procedure, we can return the bed to the lowest position for safety.

00:09 Assist that patient in a comfortable position.

00:12 And, again, we may have just have suctioned or we were dealing with the patient's airway, so assess to see if the patient's head of bed needs to be just elevated at least past 30 degrees, so assess you patient here.

00:23 Dispose of all of your used equipment.

00:25 Now is the time to reassess the patient's respiratory status.

00:29 How did they tolerate that procedure? We can look at their breathing, this pulse ox for example, and reassess here is key.

00:37 Now, we can remove our gloves, perform our hand hygiene, and, of course, document our procedure.

00:47 So, now that we've completed our procedure, make sure to return the bed to the lowest position for safety.

00:53 Make sure your patient's up in a comfortable position, and, again, depending on your patient, because we're talking about airway here, we may need their head of bed up at least 30 degrees.

01:04 Now, we can dispose all of our used equipment and this is a great time to reassess the patient's respiratory status.

01:11 Now, we've been in there and trying to do routine care on the airway.

01:15 We just want to make sure the patient's respiratory status is still stable.

01:20 Remove your gloves at this point, perform hand hygiene, and make sure, of course, to document the procedure.

01:26 Thanks for watching, guys.

01:32 Let's take a look at some possible complications when we're dealing with tracheostomy or care.

01:37 So what we don't want to happen is accidental removal of the tube.

01:42 This is what's protecting the patient's airway, therefore, when we talk about emergency equipment, it's important to have a tracheostomy tube, a sterile one on-hand if needed.

01:52 Also, we're going to look for signs and symptoms of infection especially around that stoma site, so excessive redness, kind of pussy drainage, maybe even low grade fever that your patient's exhibiting.

02:06 And, again, going back to that skin, guys, and the checking that stoma site.

02:10 Sometimes because of excess moisture and maybe the stoma site is really drainy, all of the skin can get really red and irritated.

02:20 And, lastly, aspiration.

02:22 Because we have an open airway here the patient can aspirate further causing complication with breathing.

02:29 Let's talk about another consideration when we're talking about tracheostomy care.

02:34 So when we're performing tracheostomy tube care with a patient, as you can imagine, this can often be irritating and can be painful especially if it's a new trach, it can a lot of times cause the clients to cough or maybe clear their throat, so as you can imagine, if there's any coughing or movement by the patient, it's really important that you hold on the tube, when for example, you're providing care.

02:59 For example, when maybe you're changing those trach ties out or cleaning the trach.

03:03 Now, if this occurs and during this care, that the patient maybe coughs, make sure you hold on to the tube, give that client a little break, let them reset, and then you can continue completing the procedure.