Gastric Port Suctioning Times

I was just reviewing the Gastric port suctioning directive and it's mentioned that we can only suction for 15 seconds if "there are no gastric secretions". My two questions about this are: 1- If we are trying to remove air from the stomach, would it not appear as "no secretions" and if we have. suspicion of more air are we allowed to suction for greater than 15 seconds? 2- If we suspect heavy amounts of blood in the stomach, say from swallowing during a ruptured varricies event, should we be trying to remove that blood to avoid the body trying to vomit it up or do we stop suctioning once we see blood in case it's actually us causing damage?

Good afternoon!

Definitely some good clarification questions!

The intent of the 15 seconds of no fluid return is to minimize the risk of causing trauma to the patient’s stomach. Unlike other suction processes, the gastric suction tube stays in the stomach the entire time. So, after 15 seconds, if it is believed that there is more air in the stomach which is impacting ventilation quality, then the paramedic can consider another 15 seconds. Typically speaking, however, 15 seconds should be enough time to impact this potential cause of persistent difficult ventilations.

With respect to the second question, this would need to depend on what the paramedic believes is the underlying cause of the bleeding. If the paramedic believes that the blood is or is likely part of gastric secretions or is impacting the quality of ventilations, then gastric port suctioning can continue until the fluid disappears. If the blood is from trauma as a result of suctioning the stomach, then the paramedic should be revaluating the need for this procedure (risk vs benefit).

Thank you!

CEPCP