Current Guidelines
The national guidelines from the American Association for Respiratory Care 30provide recommendations on ET suctioning. These include (a) suction the ET only when there are secretions present; (b) preoxygenate the patients with decreased SPO2 when suctioning; (c) do not disconnect the patient from the mechanical ventilator when suctioning; (d) use shallow suctioning than deep suctioning; (e) use closed suctioning for adult patients with high FIO2 or positive end-expiratory pressure, or those at risk for lung derecruitment; (f) routine use of NSI before ET suctioning is not recommended; and (g) suctioning duration should be limited to less than 15 seconds.30 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality updates the current guidelines (the previous version of the American Association for Respiratory Care clinical practice guidelines)31 to include similar recommendations and interventions such as preoxygenation, shallow suctioning technique, sterile technique during open suctioning, using lung recruitment maneuvers, suction duration of less than 15 seconds, and monitoring of the patient.31 It is also noted that deep suctioning and NSI prior to ET suctioning may be considered but are not recommended. The report cautions that NSI is hypothesized to loosen secretions, increase the amount of secretion removal, and help in the removal of tenacious secretions. However, evidence is lacking to support this. The majority of the studies used to update this current guideline indicate that NSI is not likely to be beneficial and may be harmful to the patients. Therefore, NSI with suctioning is not recommended to be routinely performed, and the potential danger of the routine use of NSI may be associated with adverse events such as excessive coughing, decreased SPO2, bronchospasm, tachycardia, pain and dyspnea, and increased intracranial pressure.31