Although many first responders express reservations about airway suctioning, it is a potentially life-saving procedure that when performed correctly has a low risk of complications. With both cold and flu season and allergies causing year-round respiratory issues, it is always a great time for first responders to brush up on their airway management skills. Continuing education classes and regular drills can prepare you to manage even difficult airways. It’s equally important to be mindful of the main complications of suctioning. Awareness of these potential complications can guide your technique while encouraging your team to remain vigilant and diligent.

The majority of portable suction devices are powered by sealed lead-acid batteries. While this type of battery uses stable and reliable chemistry, it can lose capacity over time and require replacement. When buying a replacement battery for your portable suction device, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

It’s winter, and the cold presents unique challenges to first responders. If you didn’t do it this year, take the time now and before next winter to take stock of your equipment and winterize your first responder kit. Here are five the steps to take: 

Medical providers have long used pulse oximeters as a quick and easy way to assess blood oxygen levels. However, the amount of CO2 a person expires is an equally useful piece of information that provides key details about ventilation. Capnography provides clear data about the amount of CO2 expired at each stage of respiration. Using capnography during medical suction can reduce the risk of hypoxia and provide additional details about patients at risk of serious suction-related complications.

Medical suctioning can save lives, prevent aspiration, and reduce the risk of surgical and dental complications. But as with all medical procedures, suctioning poses some risks, especially with a rushed or unskilled technique.

Medical suction can save lives when it’s properly performed. However, improper technique can make an emergency situation worse, causing potentially catastrophic injuries. The right training for your paramedic team can maximize their job effectiveness and even save lives. Here’s what your team needs to know about safe medical suction.

Whether you’re a doctor, nurse, or EMS professional, treating patients in an emergency scenario is stressful and exhausting. Competent, compassionate care often requires working as quickly as possible while minimizing needless distractions. Many providers skip lunch and breaks, ignore their own personal needs, and work hour after hour in frigid temperatures or on empty stomachs.

Medical suction is one of the most fundamental treatments in emergency response. Whether you are clearing vomit from an unresponsive patient, controlling bleeding in a trauma victim, or visualizing the cords during intubation, your portable suction unit is one of the most important tools in your EMS arsenal.

Your team’s airway management is only as good as its medical suction units. Diligent practice, exceptional technique, and skillful assessments cannot compensate for a medical suction unit that does not work well. Sometimes, fixing suction issues is a simple matter of better storage or keeping an extra battery on hand. In other cases, such as those detailed below, it may be time to replace your suction device.

Whether you are an EMS administrator or you work within a hospital setting, there comes a time when old equipment must be replaced. Different agencies will have different bureaucratic processes, but it usually comes down to cost. What do we need, and how much can we spend?