RT Corner.net 

Intubation     

          The Tube 

1. What is intubation?

2. What are some reasons why a patient might need to be intubated?

3. What is an endotracheal tube?

4. What is the balloon thing at the end of the tube?

5. What is the thing that hangs out of the patient’s mouth?

6. Why do ET tubes come in different sizes?

7. What are the numbers along the side of the tube?

Getting Ready   

8. What do I need to do to get my patient ready for intubation? (IV, NGT), box.

9. What if they’re very agitated, or confused, or anxious?

10. Who does the intubation?

11. Can the medical team intubate the patient?

12. What is the role of the respiratory therapist?

13. What is the role of the nurse?

Intubating the Patient   

14. What meds are used during intubation?

15. What is rapid-sequence induction?

16. What is the laryngoscope for?

17. What is the stylet for?

18. What is the surgilube for?

19. What is “cricoid pressure”?

20. What is the gadget that turns from purple-to-yellow, that they put on the end of the ET tube after it goes in?

21. How do we know if the ET tube is in the right position after intubation?

22. Why does the patient need a stat x-ray after intubation?

23. What if the tube goes into the esophagus?

24. What do they mean by “intubated in the right main stem”?

25. How do I make sure the tube stays in place and doesn’t move around?

26. What if the patient bites on the tube?

27. Why do so many patients lose blood pressure after they’ve been intubated?

28. What kind of vent settings should the patient start out on?

29. What if the patient extubates herself?

As usual, please remember that these articles are not meant to be the final word on anything – instead, they’re supposed to reflect the information that an experienced preceptor might pass along to a new RN orienting in the MICU. When (not if!) you find errors, please let us know, and we’ll fix them right away. 

A note about the images: if you’re reading these articles on-line, try clicking on an picture, then grabbing its edges with your mouse. You’ll find that you can change their size, and get a better look at things, depending on their resolution. Very cool.
The Tube 

1-What is intubation? 

Intubation is the placement of a tube into a patient’s trachea. This is a tricky maneuver, requiring skilled assessment and performance, so in our institution it’s usually left in the hands of the on -call anesthesiology resident. Even they have trouble at times and can wind up calling their attending to the unit for help. Not as simple as it looks. 

2- What are some reasons why a patient might need to be intubated? 

Usually it’s because they can’t breathe, for one reason or another. CHF, pneumonia, ARDS, BOOP (paging Dr. Betty!), we see a lot of respiratory failure in the MICU. Opiate overdoses – nothing wrong with their lungs – they’re just not breathing, is all. Once in a while a severely agitated or confused patient will need to be intubated, so that he can be safely sedated for some procedure – balloon pumping prior to CABG, maybe. I remember one man who had to get a femoral, intra-arterial infusion of streptokinase overnight and was frantically, confusedly climbing out of the bed, risking his limb, and maybe his life. He was intubated, sedated with propofol for the infusion, extubated, and once he wasn’t confused anymore, went off to the floors. 

3- What is an endotracheal tube? 

The tube itself, otherwise called the ET tube - a silicone/plastic tube about 10 inches long. 

4- What is the balloon thing at the end of the tube? 

The balloon is inflated after the tube is put in – it seals up against the walls of the trachea to prevent air from leaking in or out of the patient’s lungs. The pressure in the balloon is supposed to be checked several times a shift by Respiratory, and should not be higher than 20cm – the RRTs have little manometers that they check this with. If the pressure is too high, the trachea can be permanently damaged. This happened sometimes back in the Punic Wars, when they used to use red rubber ET tubes. 

Over on the left there, the cuff isn’t inflated. What would happen if you sent a breath down the tube? Would the air go into the patient’s lungs, or take the easy way out and wiffle back upwards towards his mouth? 

In fact, this is a really useful trick to use: if your patient can tolerate it breathing-wise, you can drop the cuff, ambu the patient, and let them talk to you as you squeeze the bag. Suction them first: airway, mouth and oropharynx. With a little practice you can make repeated short squeezes and keep a fairly steady forward flow, letting them tell you all the things they’ve desperately been trying to say… 

On the right the cuff has been inflated,  so that air sent into the patient pretty much has to go to the lungs.  

5- What is the thing that hangs out of the patient’s mouth? 

Besides the other end of the ETT, you mean? The thin little tube is the inflation line for the cuff. It has a little plastic valve on it, where you can inject air with a ten-cc syringe. If your patient is “leaking”, as we say, it means that the cuff isn’t full enough, and probably needs some air added. Usually 0.5 –1 cc of air will do the trick. Let respiratory know, so that they can recheck the cuff pressures with their manometer. Cuff pressures higher than something like 20cm can hurt the trachea, and respiratory checks them once or twice a shift. 

Something to remember: once in a while someone gets enthusiastic about shaving a patient and nicks the cuff inflation line with a razor. Besides being terminally embarrassing for you, this obviously puts the patient at risk because the cuff won’t hold pressure any more. The tube will have to be replaced by anesthesia, but what to do in the meantime? Try to find the nick in the line visually – you can try putting a small tegaderm doubled tightly around the nick, and see if the line will hold pressure. If that doesn’t work, you can snip the line at the nick, gently insert a 19-gauge butterfly into the remainder of the line, and join to a ten cc syringe with a stopcock attached. You should be able to get the cuff to seal. Tape the whole thing down to a tongue blade to keep it stable until anesthesia arrives. 

6- Why do ET tubes come in different sizes? 

Basically, because people do. It does pay to think a little about what size tube to use.  Most people wind up with a 7.0 or 7.5 mm tube – the number means the width of the tube lumen in millimeters, not the length of the tube. I believe that if a patient is going to need a bronchoscopy, then they’ll need an 8.0 mm tube.  

7- What are the numbers along the side of the tube? 

The numbers tell the distance along the tube from the cuffed end in centimeters. You want to know how deep the tube is into the patient, so you check what number is showing at the teeth, or the lip at the time they’re intubated – that way if the tube should come out somewhat, you’ll know where to replace it to. It’s a good idea to mark the number on the tape that goes on the patient’s face: “22 cm at lip”, or something like that.

8- What do I need to do to get my patient ready for intubation?

The single most important thing to do is to have really good IV access. If the patient has no central line, then make sure a good heplock is in place (two or even three is always better). There really should be a visible blood return in the vein –  this is no time to futz around with an infiltrated IV. You’ll want to hang a gravity bag of NS that runs well, so that the meds that get pushed during the intubation get right into the patient. The anesthesia people often depend on the rapid effects of these drugs, such as:

and you’ll need to have a reliable line to give them through. Using as large a peripheral vein as possible is always a good idea – try the antecubitals.

 A moment for a couple of quick questions:

• What is succinylcholine? What really horrible scary thing can happen (very rarely, thank goodness) with this drug, but which if it happens you will never, ever forget?

• What is propofol, and why do they call it “Milk of Amnesia”? What is the single most dangerous thing about this drug?

• What is etomidate? Why the heck don’t I know anything about this drug?

 Another excellent idea is to try and prevent the aspiration of stomach contents -  try to make sure the patient’s stomach is empty. Obviously this isn’t always possible, but if she has an NG/OG tube – flush it clear, and hook it up to low suction.  

You’ll need a couple of other things – make sure the suction is all set up in the room with a tonsil tip attached. Get the intubation box open, and locate:

This guy: the laryngoscope handle and blades – test them to make sure the lights work. See the light glowing? Make sure you know how to check the bulb, the batteries…just like a flashlight.

And this guy: a stylet – the bendable wire thing in sterile wrap. This goes inside the ET tube to make it stiffer when it’s being placed in the trachea – otherwise the tube will be too soft and floppy to pass properfly.  

Remember, after intubation…take the stylet out! 

Find an appropriately-sized ET tube. 

Make sure someone checks that the ET tube cuff works properly with a syringe – not that they fail often, but it would be a real bummer to go through intubation and find that the cuff wasn’t working. You’ll want your trach tape stuff ready too. Certainly not last or least – make sure that all your monitor equipment is working properly – you must have a decent EKG trace, a clear O2 sat probe wave, and some kind of blood pressure monitoring. If you’re using the non-invasive cuff, set it to cycle once a minute. 

A question for the newbie group goes here: (you just got a clue) - what other situation might develop, maybe after the patient’s been intubated, that you’re going to want to be ready for? What drug, or drug mix might you want to have on hand?  We’ll get to this a bit later on – but any nurse who’s seen more than two intubations will know this one…can’t wait? See question 27. 

You’re going to need one of these, too:

After the tube is placed, you’re going to need an ambu bag to ventilate your very-sedated patient until the vent is set up and ready. The face mask comes off, and the bag fitting slides onto the end of the ET tube. Make sure that the oxygen line is hooked up, and that there’s good flow through the line. 

9- What if they’re very agitated, confused, or anxious? 

Wouldn’t you be? I’m going to be a handful, I’ll tell ya!  This is managed by anesthesia. Depending on their judgment, I’ve seen them use propofol alone, sometimes versed, sometimes etomidate, sometimes combinations of meds. Successfully intubating a patient often depends on careful, appropriately timed sedation – this is why you must have proper IV access. After intubation nowadays, we’ve found that propofol alone is usually enough to help a patient remain in sync with the vent. They’re going to need a whole lot of it for me!  

10- Who does the intubation? 

The intubation is supposed to be either done by, or supervised by the anesthesia doc on call. The medical team can go ahead with intubation in an emergency while the anesthesia person has been paged and is coming.  

A word about supervised intubations – often a situation that is rapidly deteriorating can become really stressful while the anesthesiologist and the medical team member are both trying to look at the patient’s vocal cords.Your position during intubation is facing the both the monitor and the patient. You may be the only person looking at the monitor, and noticing that the patient’s O2 sat has gone to 60, and that the heart rate is dropping, and it may be you that has to point this out! Don’t hesitate! 

11- Can the medical team intubate the patient? 

Yes, but if possible they should wait for anesthesia. 

12- What is the role of the respiratory therapist? 

Respiratory is the assistant to the person doing the intubation. They make sure that all the equipment is at hand, assist with bagging, and advise during the procedure. They are also responsible for having a vent ready and in the room. 

13- What is the role of the nurse? 

First – make sure that respiratory knows that an intubation is going to happen! This is not a happy surprise for them if they don’t have a chance to get ready.  

Next- collect your equipment, and make sure it all works.  

Then – stand in the room so that you can see the patient, the people intubating, and the monitor. You also probably will be in charge of the IV meds. Let’s say it again: make sure that the IV is running freely throughout the procedure, with a good blood return, so that all meds given get into the patient quickly. This is probably the most important aspect of intubation besides passing the tube itself, and it is your responsibility.        

Intubating the Patient 

14- What meds are used during intubation? 

Anesthesia will choose. Depending on size, weight, medical history, empty or full stomach – there are a lot of considerations – they will choose from a number of drugs available. Lately I’ve seen more intubations done using pushes of propofol alone. In the past I’ve seen them use pentothal, etomidate, (sedatives) sometimes with small doses of succinylcholine  (a paralytic).

Here the idea is that the patient is getting a couple of different meds at just about the same time: a sedative, and sometimes some kind of paralyzing agent, although they use paralytics less and less lately. Lots of intubations nowadays are done just with propofol boluses, although the anesthesia people still carry around an enormous bag full of all sorts of stuff. There’s a new version of etomidate nowadays, I hear, with hardly any respiratory suppression. I want that one. 

16- What is the laryngoscope for? 

The laryngoscope holds the tongue out of the way, helps the anesthesiologist move the jaw downwards, and has a lightbulb to act light a flashlight – it lights up the inside of the mouth so that the vocal cords can be seen – then ET tube is passed through the cords into the trachea.

17- What is the stylet for? 

The stylet is the copper-colored long bendy piece of wire thing that comes in a sterile wrapper in the intubation box. You put the stylet into the ET tube to stiffen it as it goes into the patient – the ET tube is fairly soft, and may just curl up or bend if you try to place it without the stylet, which comes out after the tube has been placed beyond the cords. 

18- What is the surgilube for? 

The surgilube helps the ET tube slide into place – just like for an NG or OG tube, or a Foley catheter. Anybody else remember that back in cave-nurse days they used to call this stuff “Kalubafax”? Wasn’t there an eskimo by that name? A bear? 

19- What is “cricoid pressure”? 

I didn’t learn what this actually was for until I took ACLS (a very useful thing to do):  pushing downwards (straight down, towards the bed) on the patient’s adam’s apple pushes the opening of the trachea backwards so that the intubating person can see it.

20- What is the gadget that turns from purple-to-yellow, that they put on the end of the ET tube after it goes in? 

This is an end-tidal CO2 detector – it tests the air passing through the ET tube that it’s attached to. If the detector changes color with exhalation, that means that the patient is intubated in the trachea  – CO2 is coming out  of the patient.

If it’s not changing  color…well, where else could that tube have gone? 

21- How do we know if the ET tube is in the right position after intubation? 

Right after the tube goes in, the anesthesiologist checks the CO2 detector. If that looks right, and if the tube is in to the right average depth (usually around 22 - 24cm at the lips), then they check for bilateral breath sounds with ambu-bagged breaths. Watching the O2 sat is also usually your basic clue.

22- Why  does the patient need a stat x-ray after intubation? 

You can never really tell if the tube is in the right position without an x-ray. Sometimes lung sounds can definitely fool you, and you may hear them on both sides even if the patient is intubated in the right main stem.  The tip of the tube should be 2-3cm above the carina.

23- What if the tube goes into the esophagus? 

Take it the heck back out!

 If the CO2 detector doesn’t change color, then no CO2 is coming out, which means that the tube is in the esophagus. At this point it needs to be pulled back out immediately, and intubation needs to be tried again. Esophageal intubation did indeed happen once in a while before these devices came along, despite the best efforts at visually placing the tube, and auscultation after placement. It’s definitely saved many lives. 

24- What do they mean by “intubated in the right main stem”? 

The trachea divides into two main branches, right and left. The right branch, or main stem, is in nearly a straight line with the trachea itself, so if the ET tube goes in too far, that’s where it usually goes. (That’s also why most aspiration pneumonias go to the RLL.) In that position, with the cuff inflated, the patient is only getting one lungful of air with each breath instead of two.

25- How do I make sure the tube stays in place and doesn’t move around? 

What we do in this ICU is to prep the upper lip and one cheek with benzoin, and use a piece of cloth tape about six inches long, that we split for 3-4 inches. The unsplit part goes on the cheek, the top of the split goes on the lip, over the skin where a mustache would be, and the bottom of the split wraps around the ETT. Try to leave a flag on the part wrapped around the tube, or no one will be able to get it off when it needs changing. After the cloth tape is on we use a trach tie string, doubled in a loop around the tape wrap, which passes around the back of the patient’s head, and gets tied on one side. This should be loose enough to allow at least one finger to slip underneath – too tight and you’ll definitely cut the patient somewhere.  

26- What if the patient bites on the tube? 

Definitely a bad thing - I’ve seen people arrest doing this: no oxygen, no gas exchange – a bad thing. Some people are just too agitated sometimes to understand explanations about this (or much else), and need some sedation. Other people may need to have a bite block. Or both. There’s always an oral airway in the room – this can go in for a while, but I was taught that they shouldn’t stay in place for more than a day, because they can cause pressure injuries to the tongue and the palate. Sometimes we cut the oral airways down to leave only about one-half to one inch left – that can work well for longer periods, but you have to make sure it’s properly in place – good mouth care is still essential.  

Another thing we’ve seen recently is a patient who chews through the pilot balloon line – there’s no quick way to fix this since the break is right at the teeth. These patients need to have the ET tube changed right away, because the cuff won’t seal anymore. Use a bite block . 

27-Why do so many patients lose blood pressure after they’ve been intubated?  

Remember what we said about having good IV access – a visible blood return in your peripheral lines, all that?  

Consider this common scenario: your patient has been working hard to breathe, maybe for the past day or so, and he’s getting tired. pCO2 is rising – maybe getting a bit of respiratory acidosis. Maybe the team has been diuresing him for several days, hoping that his problem is CHF and not something worse – now he’s dry as a bone; dry as a doggy-biscuit, we used to say. 

So he’s working hard to breathe, he’s anxious, he’s got a pressure of, maybe, 110 systolic, he’s dry. Now the anesthesiologist gives him a slug of propofol to sedate him for intubation. The only thing that’s been keeping his pressure up has been his agitation – he’s been secreting his own pressors, right? Endogenous catecholamines, all like that? Mediated by his excitement?  

Lots of patients lose blood pressure after being sedated for intubation – you may want to give a fluid bolus or two. You can run the peripheral neo mix in these situations sometimes – large-bore peripheral veins are really mandatory for that stuff. You do not want to learn what it looks like when a peripherally administered pressor extravasates in someones arm! (What would you do if you thought that was happening? Look up  “local regitine infiltration”). 

28-What kind of vent settings should the patient start out on? 

This will depend on all sorts of things – does the patient need a rate? Maybe once she wakes up some, she’ll only need pressure support ventilation without a rate. Maybe she’ll need something else – discuss the plan with the team and respiratory.  

29- What if the patient extubates herself? 

Depends. Obviously, some people will need to be immediately re-intubated, and some people may be able to “fly” on mask O2. The first move we usually make is to put the patient on 100% mask O2, and observe carefully. (What if the patient had severe COPD? Would you put her on that much oxygen?) Send blood gases to document how the patient tolerates the change. Be ready for quick re-intubation, and remember that when the patient gets ready for (planned) extubation later on, that she might have injured or inflamed her vocal cords – is there cord edema? A good way to check – is there an active air leak when the cuff is dropped? Check while giving the patient breaths with an ambu-bag. No leak? Let the team know, and remind them of the possible trauma. (This goes for traumatic intubations as well.) The patient may be at risk for a bad airway situation after extubation – think about having racemic epinephrine nearby to deal with stridor and swelling. Know where the trach kits are?

Quiz Questions

1-    Intubation means:

a-    placing a tube in the esophagus

b-    placing a tube in the esophagus, and another tube in the trachea

c-    placing a tube in the esophagus, the trachea, and anywhere else that sounds good

d-    placing a tube in the trachea

2-    The tip of the tube should be:

a-    two centimeters below the carina

b-    two or three centimeters above the carina

c-    docked next to the cigarette boat at the marina

d-    in the stomach, below the diaphragm

3-    The cuff at the end of the tube should be:

a-    Inflated to about 20mm hg

b-    deflated

c-    hyperinflated, then deflated every four hours

d-    there is no cuff at the end of the tube

4-    The cuff at the end of the tube:

a-    holds the tube in place

b-    should be removed before the tube is put in

c-    should be filled with water

d-    seals the trachea so air, sent to the lungs, through the tube, doesn’t rush back up out of the patients mouth

5-    The numbers along the side of the tube:

a-    tell how long the tube is

b-    tell how far the tube has been advanced into the esophagus

c-    tell how far the tube has been advanced into the trachea

d-    I don’t know what they’re for, and I ignore them

6-    Personnel allowed to intubate in our hospital include:

a-    Condoleezza Rice

b-    the anesthesia resident, the medical residents, occasionally the critical care attendings

c-    Anastasia, the sleepy Russian princess of gas

d-    the nurses and the respiratory therapists

7-    True or false: succinylcholine is a completely safe drug with no side effects, such as collapsed airway from paralysis, and the rare but terrifying episode of hyperkalemia.

8-    The end-tidal C02 detector is used to:

a-    check if carbon dioxide is coming out of wherever the tube has gone

b-    make sure enough carbon dioxide is going into the patient

c-    check the level of carbon dioxide at low tide

d-    end-tidal C02 detectors are useless, and we shouldn’t bother with them

9-    If the tube has gone into the esophagus:

a-    a clue will be that the patient’s sat will not improve with bagging

b-    the end-tidal C02 detector won’t change color

c-    the abdomen below the diaphragm may swell with bagged breaths

d-    it doesn’t matter – don’t worry about it

e-    all of the above except d

10-  A question about responsibility: if the patient extubates herself:

a-    she may need re-intubation quickly

b-    the nurse is at fault

c-    the patient is at fault

d-    this just proves that all intubated patients should be restrained, sedated, and probably paralyzed

e-    a is probably the only correct answer to this question

Copyright RT Corner 2008