Airway injury from the presence of endotracheal tubes and the association with subglottic secretion drainage: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: Laryngeal and tracheal injuries are known complications of endotracheal intubation. Endotracheal tubes (ETTs) with subglottic suction devices (SSDs) are commonly used in the critical care setting. There is concern that herniation of tissue into the suction port of these devices may lead to tracheal injury resulting in serious clinical consequences such as tracheal stenosis.

Providing Evidence-Based Care, Day and Night: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Improve Intensive Care Unit Patient Sleep Quality.

Objective: Evidence-based guidelines recommend promoting sleep in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), yet many patients experience poor sleep quality. We sought to engage allied health staff and patient families to determine barriers to sleep promotion, to measure sleep quality for ICU patients, and to evaluate the improvement in sleep quality after implementation of nursing morning report protocol and a doorway poster.

Design: The study followed an interrupted time-series framework of quality improvement.