Tie down your tubing

When an endotracheal tube gets pulled out by the weight of the tubing, it can wake up your patient and potentially traumatize the patient's trachea if the cuff is inflated. Taping the tubing or weighing it down with a heavy object never seems to work well. We stretch a bungee cord across the table, which holds enough tension on the tube to keep it from slipping while allowing us to move the tube as necessary. We can also tuck a few loaded syringes under the bungee cord as needed.

Dr. Laura Wade

Lancaster, N.Y.