TY - JOUR
T1 - A description of patients' report of endotracheal tube discomfort
AU - Grap, Mary Jo
AU - Blecha, Tracy
AU - Munro, Cindy
N1 - Funding Information:
Funded by the American Association of Critical Nurses (AACN) Clinical Inquiry Grant and the Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Research Award.
PY - 2002/8
Y1 - 2002/8
N2 - The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe the type, location, and amount of endotracheal tube (ETT) discomfort. Twenty-two subjects (mean age 49.2 years) who had experienced ETT intubation for at least 6 hours (mean: 25.9 hours) after cardiac surgery, completed a 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale related to their experience with the endotracheal tube within 24 hours after extubation. A semi-structured interview was also conducted. There was no relationship between the duration of intubation and the level of discomfort described (r = -0.24; P = 0.29) or between the duration of intubation and whether medications relieved the discomfort (r = 0.34; P = 17). All subjects described some level of discomfort. The majority stated the discomfort was in the throat area. However, 27% (n = 6) described the discomfort as located in the chest. There was no difference in the level of discomfort based on discomfort location (f = -0.14; P = 0.71). The discomfort locations support the notion that ETT irritation occurs at multiple levels (i.e. pharyngeal, laryngeal, and tracheal mucosal areas). In addition, interventions that focus on ETT stability will not be sufficient to reduce discomfort but must re-focus nursing attention on reducing ETT movement as well as the movement of all ventilator tubing.
AB - The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe the type, location, and amount of endotracheal tube (ETT) discomfort. Twenty-two subjects (mean age 49.2 years) who had experienced ETT intubation for at least 6 hours (mean: 25.9 hours) after cardiac surgery, completed a 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale related to their experience with the endotracheal tube within 24 hours after extubation. A semi-structured interview was also conducted. There was no relationship between the duration of intubation and the level of discomfort described (r = -0.24; P = 0.29) or between the duration of intubation and whether medications relieved the discomfort (r = 0.34; P = 17). All subjects described some level of discomfort. The majority stated the discomfort was in the throat area. However, 27% (n = 6) described the discomfort as located in the chest. There was no difference in the level of discomfort based on discomfort location (f = -0.14; P = 0.71). The discomfort locations support the notion that ETT irritation occurs at multiple levels (i.e. pharyngeal, laryngeal, and tracheal mucosal areas). In addition, interventions that focus on ETT stability will not be sufficient to reduce discomfort but must re-focus nursing attention on reducing ETT movement as well as the movement of all ventilator tubing.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036702649&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036702649&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0964339702000654
DO - 10.1016/S0964339702000654
M3 - Article
C2 - 12470014
AN - SCOPUS:0036702649
VL - 18
SP - 244
EP - 249
JO - Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
JF - Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
SN - 0964-3397
IS - 4
ER -