ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of 84-year-old patient who is brought into the resuscitation area of the Emergency Department by a blue-light ambulance. The patient is in obvious respiratory distress and has a tracheostomy secondary to advanced laryngeal cancer. A tracheostomy refers to a stoma between the skin and the trachea. It means that air bypasses the upper aerodigestive tract. This removes the natural mechanisms of voice production and humidification. If a single lumen tracheostomy is blocked and suction and cuff deflation does not provide adequate ventilation, remove the tracheostomy and insert a new tube of the same or smaller size whilst holding the stoma open with tracheal dilators. Post-tracheostomy care should be conducted by an appropriately trained nurse or trained patient/carer and includes humidified oxygen with regular suctioning, pen and paper for patient to communicate and tracheostomy change after 7 days to allow speaking valve application and formation of a stoma tract.
