This post is an excerpt taken from our complementary ebook, The Emergency Preparedness Professional’s Guide to Planning for Hospital Supply Line Disruptions.

Recent natural disasters, such as Winter Storm Elliott, have demonstrated that hospitals can suffer crippling blows during times of crisis. But at the same time, hospitals are expected to provide continuous and safe patient care amidst these challenges.

It's three a.m., and you have just been dispatched to a "pediatric difficulty breathing." As you rub the sleep from your eyes, you perform a quick mental review of the PALS protocol, just in case. Perhaps the child simply has a cold, and the parent has panicked. It happens all the time. But perhaps it's something more serious. You had better be ready for anything.

When you’re a paramedic, every shift can present a range of medical emergencies. Myocardial infarctions (MI), strokes, traumatic injuries; you must be ready for anything. And any one of these patients can devolve into a critical suction scenario. The MI may lapse into cardiac arrest; the stroke may render swallowing ineffective; and the trauma patient may have facial injuries producing copious blood in the mouth. You must have suction at the ready for every patient. Your priority is always a patent airway.

The critical aspect of suction readiness is having procedures in place that ensure you are prepared. So let's discuss some of the aspects of emergency suction procedures for paramedics.

One of the most critical scenarios a paramedic will respond to is a respiratory emergency. Respiratory distress can be linked to many underlying medical problems, so it must be recognized immediately, treated proficiently, and monitored continuously. But like any medical emergency, treatment begins with a good assessment.

Think for a moment about all the decisions you make each time you treat a patient. It begins with your assessment: Is the patient stable or critical? Are their vitals sufficient, or do they require immediate intervention? Will they need ALS or BLS? Each scenario prompts a deluge of decisions—decisions that must be made instantaneously in some cases.

Picture this: The storm had knocked out power across three counties, and unfortunately, your zone was situated in the thick of it. Although your station was equipped with an emergency generator, the steady influx of calls had kept you from touching base. And now you're dispatched to an overdose at the nearby homeless shelter.

It’s no secret that mental health crises have been on the rise in recent years, affecting individuals of all ages, and from all walks of life. According to data from Mental Health America in 2022, the estimated number of adults with serious suicidal thoughts was over 11.4 million, and 15.08% of youth ages 12-17 reported suffering from at least one major depressive episode in the past year.

Anyone who has worked in the field of EMS has worked their fair share of codes. You arrive on the scene to find a patient in full arrest, so you initiate CPR, begin bagging, and break out your ALS equipment. Everything is running smoothly—that is until the patient vomits. You reach for your portable suction unit, only to realize you left it on the truck. Big mistake!

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic medical condition that affects a person’s nighttime breathing. This can lead to fatigue, dry mouth, and issues with daytime wakefulness. Sleep apnea also correlates with a higher risk of serious health problems, including stroke, heart attack, respiratory disease, pneumonia, and premature death.

Pediatric airway problems can lead to devastation for families. According to the Pediatric Perioperative Cardiac Arrest (POCA) registry, respiratory events led to 27% of all pediatric perioperative cardiac arrests.

Likely, this is the first traumatic event the child has experienced and causing further distress will only increase the severity of the problem. It falls to responders to keep an open and friendly disposition during these events, making medical care less intimidating. To be able to focus on that type of demeanor, prior education and comprehension of the causes and solutions to these complications is vital to potentially saving a child’s life or preventing long-term harm.