A home care patient calls to inform the respiratory therapist that his transtracheal catheter acci-dentally fell out last night and that he was unable to reinsert it. The patient should be told to:

a. insert a dilating or stenting device.
b. continue attempts to reinsert the catheter.
c. use a nasal cannula and call his physician as soon as possible.
d. use a nasal cannula until another transtra-cheal catheter is delivered to the home.

ANS: D
Without the transtracheal catheter in place, this patient is not receiving any supplemental oxygen. To avoid hypoxemia, the patient must use a back-up delivery device. The most appropriate device in this situation would be a nasal cannula. The patient must call the physician for follow-up im-mediately.