How to Prevent Endotracheal Tube Cuff Overinflation: "5 for 25".

Adverse effects associated with elevated endotracheal (ET) tube cuff pressures above 25 cm H2O include postoperative throat pain and tissue ischemia. Anesthesia practitioners' current methods of cuff pressure estimation are often inaccurate. This quantitative, quasi-experimental quality improvement project evaluated the incidence of ET tube cuff overinflation before and after an educational intervention that recommended the use of a 5-mL over 10-mL syringe for cuff inflation.