Commercially available suction devices are expensive, large and heavy, and need electricity, and thus restrict the outdoor activity of tracheostomised children and their carers. This study evaluated the efficacy and usability of a simple suction assembly using a syringe and feeding tube in paediatric tracheostomised patients.

Following the domiciliary usage of this suction assembly instead of their existing suction device for a minimum of 15 days, carers responded to a set of questionnaires containing a subjective scoring system.

Ninety-three per cent of the carers considered this assembly as average, good or very good in cleaning the tracheostomy tube. Eighty per cent of the carers considered that this assembly would be suitable when their existing suction machines are unavailable, indicating high usability, and 66.67 per cent of the carers would be confident using this assembly in outdoor settings.

Larger studies with objective evaluation methods can validate the high efficacy of this simple, inexpensive and easy-to-use, hand-held suction apparatus as reported by the carers of 15 paediatric tracheostomised patients in this study.

Significant start-up delays are inherent to syringe infusion pumps, particularly at low infusion rates, as routinely used in children’s anaesthesia and intensive care. Such delays are mainly the result of engagement of gears in the mechanical drive or compliance of the syringe assembly. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of flow rate, syringe size and syringe architecture on fluid delivery during infusion start-up.

Elapsed time from infusion start to achievement of steady-state flow was gravimetrically determined for various infusion rates (0.1, 0.5, 1 mL h−1), different syringe sizes (10-, 20-, 30-, 50-mL) and syringes of two different brands (BD and Codan). Four measurements for each condition were performed with two identical Alaris® Asena™ GH syringe infusion pumps (total of eight experiments). Statistical analysis was done by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post-test; P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Start-up time was from 3.6 ± 0.9 min (BD 10-mL syringe, 1.0 mL h−1) to 74.5 ± 26.6 min (BD 50-mL syringe, 0.1 mL h−1). Overall, the start-up time markedly increased with lower flow rate (0.1 mL h−1 vs. 1 mL h−1; P < 0.0001), larger syringe size (50 mL vs. 10 mL; P < 0.01), and the BD brand in comparison with the Codan syringes (P < 0.01).

Highest possible flow rate, smaller sized syringes and syringe plungers with reduced compressibility should be preferred in order to avoid significant start-up delays in fluid delivery.