Early Decannulation, Repatriation, and Hospital Discharges by Introducing a Tracheostomy Care Task Force for Noncritical Care Tracheostomized Patients

Objective. To determine the impact of an intensivist lead tracheostomy care team on the number of successful decannulations in non-critically ill patients and the time required for such decannulations and discharge from the hospital. Methods. Following the introduction of a multidisciplinary tracheostomy care task force, data was collected prospectively from July to December 2009. Matching control data was collected retrospectively from January to June 2009. Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney U- test were used to compare the differences in study variables with an α of 0.05. Results. A total of 44 and 47 patients with percutaneous tracheostomy (PCT) were discharged from the ICU pre- and post-implementation of the task force, respectively. Nine patients in pre- and 24 in post- implementation phase were decannulated, discharged from the hospital, and repatriated to their country of origin (Chi Sq. = 9.21, P = .002). Patients in pre-implementation group had longer hospital stay post ICU discharge compared to patients in post-implementation (58 vs. 34.1 days) group ( P< .001). Conclusion. Structured multidisciplinary tracheostomy care team was associated with significant increase in number of decannulations, hospital discharges, and repatriation post ICU discharge.