Comparative Study of Vital Signs during Open and Closed Suctioning in Patients with Head Trauma Hospitalized in ICU

Endotracheal suctioning is one of the nursing cares in order to keep open the endotracheal tube which may lead to secondary complications. Type of suctioning may affect the patients’ vital signs. This study was done with the aim of comparing the effect of open and closed suctioning on vital signs of patients with head trauma.
This Single blind crossover clinical trial study was performed on 88 head trauma patients who underwent mechanical ventilation hospitalized in surgical intensive care units of Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2015-16. Open and closed suction with random allocation for each of patients in both groups, and changes in vital signs(Heart rate, Respiratory rate and Mean Arterial Pressure) at intervals before, during, immediately after, five, ten and fifteen minutes were measured. Data analyzed with Paired T-test, repeated measure ANOVA and Exact Fisher by using SPSS-22.
Average age of the study sample was 29±90 year. Most of the patients were males (n=60, 68%) and the majority of them had been admitted after motor vehicle accidents (75%).
The differences of heart rate, respiratory rate was statistically significant in before, during and immediately after open suctioning, but differences in mean arterial pressure was greater in the group received closed suctioning.
Changes on Heart rate and respiratory rate in open suctioning were more than closed. Therefore, the use of closed suctioning is recommended due to being more confident.