Nasopharyngeal and Oropharyngeal Suction update

The APCP Respiratory Committee have been working on resources to support APCP members on the use of nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) suction in children and young people.

We have updated our NP suction guidelines Guidelines for Nasopharyngeal Suction of a Child or Young Adult  and are in the process of developing a guideline for OP suction.

We have also been liaising with the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) in regard to teaching carers in the community how to safely NP and OP suction children and young people. The RCN now signpost all members who have a query related to this topic to the APCP document ‘Recommendations for the Paediatric Respiratory Physiotherapy Care of the Complex Child in the Community’ which sets out how this can be done safely. The RCN are also in the process of updating their document ‘Meeting Health Needs in Education and other Community Settings’ to clearly state that NP and OP suction can be a task delegated to carers by Paediatric Respiratory Physiotherapists.

APCP Respiratory Committee