Caregiver suctioning education for Japanese patients with an invasive home ventilator

In Japan, more people require care activities at home. In particular, patients with an invasive mechanical ventilator in the home require extensive care by family caregivers. Collaboration between their nurses and paid caregivers in the provision of care activities, especially tracheal suctioning, is necessary. This three-round Delphi study identifies the essential items required by nurses to instruct the paid caregivers in how to carry out tracheal suctioning on patients with an invasive mechanical ventilator in the home. By the final round, three competencies were found to be important by the home-visit nurses and paid caregivers: the anticipation of risk, the manner of handling an emergency situation, and the observation of a patient's breathing. The Delphi technique was used to obtain consensus between the home-visit nurses and the paid caregivers regarding the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to carry out tracheal suctioning for patients with an invasive mechanical ventilator in the home.