Comparison the Effects of Shallow and Deep Endotracheal Tube Suctioning on Respiratory Rate, Arterial Blood Oxygen Saturation and Number of Suctioning in PatientsHospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: endotracheal tube suctioning is essential for improve oxygenation in the patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. there are two types ofshallow and deep endotracheal tube suctioning. this study aimed to evaluate the effect of shallow and deep suctioning methods on respiratory rate (rr), arterial blood oxygensaturation (spo2) and number of suctioning in patients hospitalized in the intensive care units of al-zahra hospital, isfahan, iran. methods: in this randomized controlledtrial, 74 patients who hospitalized in the intensive care units of isfahan al-zahrahospital were randomly allocated to the shallow and deep suctioning groups. rr andspo2 were measured immediately before, immediately after, 1 and 3 minute after eachsuctioning. number of suctioning was also noted in each groups. data were analyzedusing repeated measures analysis of variance (rmanova), chi-square and independentt-tests. results: rr was significantly increased and spo2 was significantly decreasedafter each suctioning in the both groups. however, these changes were not significantbetween the two groups. the numbers of suctioning was significantly higher in theshallow suctioning group than in the deep suctioning group. conclusion: shallow anddeep suctioning had a similar effect on rr and spo2. however, shallow suctioningcaused further manipulation of patient’s trachea than deep suctioning method.therefore, it seems that deep endotracheal tube suctioning method can be used to cleanthe airway with lesser manipulation of the trachea.