To evaluate the clinical effect of bundled airway care in patients with inhalation injury undergoing tracheostomy.

A total of 216 patients with inhalation injury who met the inclusion criteria and underwent tracheostomy were enrolled from the Department of Burns and Cutaneous Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, between February 2021 and December 2024. According to the tracheostomy care protocol, they were divided into a bundled airway care group (observation group, n=106) and a routine airway care group (control group, n=110). Outcome measures included duration of tracheostomy tube retention, incidence of accidental extubation and tube blockage, incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and antibiotic use density.

The observation group had a significantly shorter duration of tracheostomy tube retention than the control group [10.00 (8.00, 11.25)d vs. 11.50 (8.00, 15.00)d, P<0.001]. The incidence of accidental extubation and tube blockage was lower in the observation group (0.94% vs. 8.18%, P<0.05), as was the incidence of VAP (17.92% vs. 35.45%, P<0.05). Antibiotic use density was also significantly lower in the observation group (30.71±10.13 vs. 34.90±18.20, P<0.05).

Bundled airway care effectively improves airway management outcomes in patients with inhalation injury and tracheostomy, reduces complications such as accidental extubation and tube blockage, and decreases antibiotic use density. This approach is beneficial to the recovery of patients and is worthy of clinical promotion.