Tracheotomy as an emergency surgical procedure appeared and developed in ancient times1. The surgical techniques for its performance in our time have reached a level of perfection, and in adults it is one of the most frequent surgical procedures performed in emergency and intensive care units worldwide.
Children's tracheotomy, on the other hand, presents far more serious challenges to the medical teams involved in its performance. A number of issues related to it - indications and contraindications, time for performance and protocols for decannulation and others are still subject to clarification.
In the past years, the development of medical science, the introduction of vaccination programs, the use of many improved medical materials and technologies, as well as the achievements of neonatal and pediatric intensive care practice, have shifted the emphasis of pediatric tracheotomy from its emergency performance to solve an acute asphyxiation problem, to its implementation in children, representing a complex group of patients, with permanent dependence on tracheostomy and related medical technologies for long-term survival2.
There are a growing number of children who have experienced complex therapy, for whom tracheostomy care and mechanical ventilation2, including at home environment, are part of their care. This, in turn, puts new questions on the agenda: who will take care for the child in the early postoperative period and during the days of hospitalization afterwards, who will train the people who will care for the tracheotomized child at home, what precautions should be applied in these children during their daily activities – eating, bathing, playing inside and outside the home and others.
