Bedside procedures

How to suction a tracheostomy

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

Nursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Suction only when needed, and keep each pass short.

Step by step

  1. Assess

    Noisy breathing, visible secretions, low saturation. [1]

  2. Preoxygenate

    Give extra oxygen before. [1]

  3. Sterile technique

    Sterile glove on the dominant hand, sterile catheter. [1]

  4. Depth

    Just beyond the end of the tube (premeasured). [1]

  5. Suction

    Apply suction only while withdrawing, no more than 10 to 15 seconds. [1]

  6. Reoxygenate and reassess

    Between passes; check saturation, heart rate and breath sounds. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

Sources

  1. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
  2. OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) and OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills, licensed under CC BY 4.0. VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.