A Tracheostomy Support Device to Reduce Tracheostomy-Related Pressure Injury

BACKGROUND:

Tracheostomies provide many advantages for the care of patients who are critically ill but may also result in complications, including tracheostomy-related pressure injuries. Research efforts into the prevention of these pressure injuries has resulted in specialized clinical care teams and pathways. These solutions are expensive and labor intensive, and fail to target the root cause of these injuries; namely, pressure at the device-skin interface. Here we measure that pressure directly and introduce a novel medical device, the tracheostomy support system, to reduce it.

METHODS:

This was a cross-sectional study of 21 subjects in the ICU, each with a tracheostomy tube connected to a ventilator. A force-sensing resistor was used to measure baseline pressures at the device-skin interface along the inferior flange. This pressure was then measured again with the use of the tracheostomy support system in the inactive and active states. Resultant pressures and demographics were compared.

RESULTS:

Fifteen male and 6 female subjects, with an average age of 47 ± 14 (mean ± SD) years, were included in this study. Average pressures at the tracheostomy-skin interface at baseline in these 21 ICU subjects were 273 ± 115 (mean ± SD) mm Hg. Average pressures were reduced by 59% (median 62%, maximum 98%) with the active tracheostomy support system to 115 ± 83 mm Hg (P < .001). All the subjects tolerated the tracheostomy support system without issue.

CONCLUSIONS:

Despite best clinical practice, pressure at the tracheostomy-skin interface can remain quite high. Here we provide measures of this pressure directly and show that a tracheostomy support system can be highly effective at minimizing that pressure. There is room for improvement in tracheostomy care, and such improvement does not have to come at a great expense.