Currently we are faced with countless patients with prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the consequent increase in the need for tracheostomies and the risks that this includes for both patients and staff. Objective: It is necessary to establish a safety protocol for the performance of percutaneous tracheostomies in order to reduce the associated infections.
Material and methods
77 patients underwent tracheostomies between March 2020 and March 2021, evaluating the safety of the protocol and the rate of contagion among the staff.
Results
Percutaneous tracheostomy was performed according to the protocol in 72 patients, 5 were excluded due to unfavorable anatomy or other reasons.
There were no cases of SARS COVID-19 contagion among health personnel attributable to the procedure during the three-week follow-up period. There were no surgical complications in this series.
Conclusion
The authors recommend implementing security protocols such as the one discussed in this work, given its low contagion rate and ease of implementation.
