Suction plays a critical role in numerous medical procedures. It’s also a key component of every tactical medical kit. Yet many first responders and other medical professionals are familiar with only one or two suction aspirators. In an emergency or when you collaborate with another agency, your familiarity with a wide range of suction equipment may be the most important factor in patient outcomes. Here are the types of suction aspirators you might encounter.

Rapid sequence intubation, sometimes called rapid sequence induction, is an anesthesia technique used for patients with a high risk of pulmonary aspiration. It helps prevent aspiration by reducing the interval of time between loss of consciousness and inflation of the endotracheal tube cuff. Without the right equipment, rapid sequence intubation becomes impossible. Here’s what you need to have on hand to properly perform this technique: 

Routine suctioning at birth has been the standard of care for newborns for decades. But recent evidence calls this practice into question, and many hospitals are moving away from it. But this doesn’t mean that suctioning is obsolete. Newborns in respiratory distress, those with low Apgar scores, and those struggling with the transition from fetus to newborn may still need bulb suctioning, or occasionally, suctioning with a machine. Here are five things you need to know about suctioning newborns. 

Before the pandemic, dental suction was primarily used to clear secretions, provide emergency treatment, and maintain a clean and accessible surgical field. However, COVID-19 offered a crash course in why every dentist needs to have quality, modern suction readily available for every patient, every time. 

Quality suction reduces the aerosolization of contagious particles. This helps to slow the spread of COVID-19, which can encourage patients to seek necessary dental care and potentially even save lives. Now is the time to upgrade your traditional dental suction tools. Here is what you need to know about quality, modern suction. 

A hospital visit can save a patient’s life. It can also destroy it if they pick up a virulent healthcare-associated infection (HAI). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that on any given day, 1 in 31 hospital patients have at least one HAI. 

Asthma is a common affliction, affecting 8-10 percent of the population. Many childhood asthmatics grow out of the disorder in adulthood, so a disproportionate percentage of people with asthma are children. For most people, asthma is a minor inconvenience, akin to—and often associated with—seasonal allergies. An unlucky fraction of asthmatics, however, have a more severe form of the illness. About 11,000 people die of asthma each year, and the rate of asthma deaths has increased 50 percent since 1980. Most asthma deaths are preventable with prompt, competent emergency care. Here’s what you need to know about intubation and ventilation of asthma patients.

The Yankauer suction catheter has a long and storied history in both emergency medicine and routine care. Developed in 1907, it has been a mainstay of airway management for more than a century. Dr. Yankauer was a groundbreaking provider in his time, who wanted to carefully suction surgical patients without damaging delicate tissue.

Emergency medical nursing equipment isn’t just for nurses working in emergency rooms or on ambulances. A pediatric nurse working at a sleepy family practice may suddenly be confronted with a choking patient. A midwife at a birthing center may have to revive a neonate or treat a catastrophic hemorrhage.

After a successful intubation, your patient is mechanically ventilated with a patent airway and his vital signs stabilize. While transporting your patient, you notice a sawtooth pattern to the ventilator waveform. The patient’s cough is not “junky” and his oxygen saturation remains stable. You may be thinking your patient needs some sedation to help him synchronize with the ventilator. But hold on—perhaps you are missing something.