the effect of endotracheal suctioning using or not using normal saline on respiratory physiologic parameters in open heart surgery patients

background: tick and tenacious secretions is one of the problems in suctioning and the instillation of normal saline in airways is one of the ways for removing pulmonary secretions. the aim of this study was to determine the effect of endotracheal suctioning using or not using normal saline on respiratory physiologic parameters in open heart surgery patients. methods: this study was a one-group clinical approach. the study group consisted of 40 patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the heart icu after coronary artery bypass graft. endotracheal suctioning with and without normal saline were carried out on each patient. respiratory physiologic parameters were measured 1 minute before and 1, 5 and 15 minutes after each suctioning procedure and were recorded in a data collection form. data was analysed utilizing t test and anova. results: respiratory physiologic parameters changed after suctioning in both methods of endotracheal suctioning but no significant difference was found between both methods of suctioning. conclusion: suctioning by using normal saline instillation can lead to lower changes in respiratory physiologic parameters compared not using normal saline. therefore, suctioning with normal saline instillation can increase the procedures efficacy and reduce the possible complication.