Jones & Bartlett Learning (JBL) Module 2 Practice Exam

When a trauma patient is unconscious with head injury and copious secretions, the priority is to keep the airway clear while ensuring oxygenation. Clearing secretions prevents obstruction and reduces the risk of aspiration, but you also must continue ventilating to prevent hypoxia. The best approach is to alternate brief suctioning with active ventilation so you can both clear the airway and maintain gas exchange. Suctioning for a short, focused period (about 15 seconds) helps remove blood and secretions that are blocking the airway. Immediately following, provide assisted ventilation (bag-valve mask) for a couple of minutes to push oxygen into the lungs and support breathing. This cycle—short suction to clear the airway, then ventilation to maintain oxygenation—is repeated as needed until the airway can be definitively secured. Other options fall short because they either rely too heavily on suction without ensuring ongoing ventilation, or they involve airway devices that are contraindicated in head trauma (such as a nasopharyngeal airway). Providing continuous ventilation without addressing secretions can lead to aspiration and persistent hypoxia, which is why a cycle that balances suction and ventilation is favored in this scenario.