How Does The Nurse Ensure Airway Safety?

1. How does the nurse ensure airway safety? Upon discussing this question with my nurse, the first thing he mentioned he does to ensure airway safety is check that the marking on the airway tube is at the same number as it should be. For example, if the tube was a 26 at the patient’s mouth, he would make sure it is still at 26. By doing so, he is able to see weather or not the tube has gone down too far and might only be providing air to one lung or it might have came up too far in the airway and the tube cuff may not be functioning properly. He also checks for safety by making sure the patients aren’t trying to extubate themselves by pulling at the tubing. If the patients were to extubate themselves, they could cause damage to their airway and might also get themselves into trouble if they aren’t ready to breath by themselves.
The nurse also stated that a patient with a nasal tube or spiral tube needs to have a nurse in the room at all times. He did not provide a rationale for why the patient would be an individual assignment other than those types of tubes need more monitoring. We also discussed how to ensure airway safety by through monitoring the patient’s pulse ox and assessing the skin for color, warmth, and capillary refill. The last thing we discussed was to monitor the patient’s ABGs. If the airway wasn’t working how it should, the patient would be in respiratory alkalosis if the machine was breathing for them too fast or they would be in respiratory acidosis if the airway was not placed correctly and getting rid of their