Evaluation of the role of a specialist tracheostomy service. From critical care to outreach and beyond.

The impact that a new specialist tracheostomy service, designed specifically for the care of patients with tracheostomies, was assessed in terms of type of tracheostomy tube used, time to first tube change, time to decannulation, and incidence of tracheostomy related complications in a teaching hospital with no on-site ear, nose, and throat facility. A total of 170 patients were studied. After service implementation, fewer patients (17.6%, n = 21) were discharged from the intensive treatment unit to the wards with tracheostomy tubes compared with the first group (39%, n = 20) (p = 0.006), and the number of tracheostomy related complications on the wards were significantly reduced (p = 0.031).