ABSTRACT
Early tracheostomy can reduce patient ventilation time, facilitating the weaning process and reducing hospitalization costs. This study analyzes the removal time of ventilators in patients submitted to early tracheostomy, after seven days of ventilation. This is a documentary, retrospective, and descriptive research. Data were collected from documents with hospital indicators of an intensive care unit in the Zona da Mata region in Minas Gerais. Data consisted of 50 patients who were successful in the weaning of mechanical ventilation and met the study criteria. They were both men and women, with a mean age of 56.6 years. For statistical analysis, the patients were divided into two groups: an early group - patients who underwent tracheostomy with less than seven days of orotracheal intubation; and a late group - patients who remained for more than seven days with orotracheal tube before tracheostomy. We obtained a significant result (p=0.04) regarding the days on mechanical ventilation after tracheostomy, demonstrating that patients with early tracheostomy remained fewer days on invasive mechanical ventilation than patients with late tracheostomy. A significantly lower result of ventilation time was observed in patients submitted to early compared with late tracheostomy. High-quality randomized clinical trials are needed to better evaluate the possible differences in mechanical ventilation withdrawal among tracheostomized patients.
Keywords:
Tracheostomy; Ventilator Weaning