A team of nurses at New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System who led the successful postoperative care of the world's first human tracheal transplant patient have published their findings in Critical Care Nurse to guide nursing management of future patients.
Mount Sinai surgeons performed the single-stage long-segment tracheal transplant on a 56-year-old woman in early 2021. She had severe tracheal stenosis from repeated intubation after an asthma attack, as well as further damage from several failed attempts to reconstruct her trachea.
"High-quality nursing care in addition to family support and a patient-centered multidisciplinary team approach played a pivotal role in the successful outcome of the first single-stage long-segment tracheal transplant," said Ella Illuzzi, MSN, nurse practitioner in the transplant ICU at The Mount Sinai Hospital and first author of the report. "Our hope is that the work we've done will guide the diligent nursing care of future tracheal transplant recipients."
The nurses' report documents lessons learned on airway management and securement, graft assessment, stoma and wound care, medication administration, patient education and more.