Timing of First Tracheostomy Change

A "fresh tracheostomy" is a tracheostomy whose tract is not yet well formed and that has not yet been changed since the operative procedure. It is considered a "critical airway" since replacement following dislodgement may be difficult and at risk of forming a false tract. Thus, an infant or a child with a fresh tracheostomy is cared for in the intensive care unit and kept sedated to prevent accidental dislodgement. During this time wound care is often suboptimal due to fear of manipulating the neck. Patients are at increased risk of complications such as pressure ulcers and pneumonia related to being sedated for an extended length of time. Furthermore, prolonged sedation can lead to difficulties with withdrawal and delay recovery. Progression of the patient's care and the teaching of tracheostomy care to caregivers is also delayed. Thus, timing of the first tracheostomy change has great implications for prevention of complications as well as length of hospital stay. While in adults is it accepted that the first trach change can be done as early as post-operative day 3. In pediatrics no good evidence or clear guidelines is available as to when the first tracheostomy change should occur. It is common to wait until days 5-7 which allows establishment of a mature tract however, there is no biologic reason to think that a pediatric tracheostomy tract should take any longer to epithelize than in an adult. Several studies have reported safe tracheostomy change in pediatric patients as early as postoperative day 3 (Deutsch 1998, Lippert 2014, Van Buran 2014). Currently at CHOP our standard of care is to perform the first tracheostomy change on post-operative day 7. The investigators aim to compare tracheostomy tube change at post-operative day 4 by randomizing patients undergoing tracheostomy at CHOP to day 4 (treatment) or day 7 (control) groups.