airway management is the process of maintaining ventilation in a patient by using an artificial
airway this ensures that gas exchange can occur by establishing a link between the patient and the
ventilator which is important because we need to make sure that the patient's upper airway
is free and clear of foreign substances so the air can flow into and out of the lungs this is an
important topic for respiratory therapy students which is why we created this video to help by
breaking down a sample tmc practice question on this topic so if you're ready let's get into it
a 63 year old female patient is orally intubated with a size 7 endotracheal tube and is receiving
ventilatory support while attempting to suction the patient with a size 12 catheter you note
that it cannot pass beyond the tip of the tube which of the following is the most likely cause
of this problem a there is a kink in the tube b the tube is in the right main stone bronchus c
the suction catheter is too short or a d the suction catheter size is too large
do you know the correct answer well let's break it down after reading the question and answer
choices first we must determine if the right size suction catheter is being used a quick and simple
way to do so is to double the et tube size and then make it the next size down for example the
question tells us that the patient has a size 7 endotracheal tube so now we can double that
number to get 14. then we need to take the next smallest catheter size which would be a size
12. this confirms that a size 12 catheter is the appropriate size for a size 7 endotracheal tube
so now looking back at the answer choices this means that we can rule out c and d automatically
in general whenever you are unable to pass a suction catheter down the e.t tube it usually
indicates that there is some type of obstruction and the most common types include mucus plugs
kinking or when the patient is biting the tube even if the tube is in the right mainstream
bronchus you should still be able to pass the suction catheter beyond the tip of the tube
so by reading the question carefully and using our knowledge of endotracheal tubes and suction
catheters we could determine that the correct answer has to be a there is a kink in the tube
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enjoy well what'd you think about these practice questions was it helpful breaking them down in a
simplified way i hope so and as i always say definitely try to go through as many of these
as possible when preparing for the tmc exam even if you don't use our practice questions
this is still a strategy that i recommend for all students however if you do want to get access to
all of our premium practice questions definitely consider checking out our tmc test bank you can
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so much for watching all the way to the end have a blessed day and as always really easy my friend
you