Instructed patient how can I prevent infections. Keep your mouth clean. Saliva and mucus contain germs that cause infection if they enter your airway. Brush your teeth twice a day. Suction your mouth as needed. Use a mouth wash twice a day or as directed. Take deep breaths and cough 10 times each hour. This will decrease your risk for a lung infection. Take a deep breath and hold it for as long as you can. Let the air out and then cough strongly. Deep breaths help open your airway. You may be given an incentive spirometer to help you take deep breaths. Put the plastic piece in your mouth and take a slow, deep breath, then let the air out and cough. Repeat these steps 10 times every hour.
Instructed patient how do I care for my skin around my trach tube. Clean your skin at least once each day. You may need to clean it more often if you cough up a lot of thick mucus. You may need someone to help you clean your skin. Wash your hands and put on gloves. This will prevent infection. Suction the area around your stoma. This will help remove mucus .Clean your skin around the stoma, clean the tube flanges, change wet or dirty trach ties., place a gauze between your skin and the flanges and check your skin every day for signs of infection. Look for redness or swelling of the skin around your tube. Also look for pus, bleeding, or a rash.