Do you favor aggressive airway clearance regimens or bronchoscopy for clearing occluding mucous plugs in patients who are not in respiratory distress?

The first step is to determine the cause of the secretion issue. Is this acute or chronic? The underlying disorder that predisposes to abnormal mucus or ineffective cough? How much difficulty is this creating with ventilation and or oxygenation (ir level of urgency?). Since there is no respiratory distress, I would select a therapeutic approach aimed at providing a longer-term solution than bronchoscopy. Often, in hypersecreters or those with impaired cough, you're back at square one within minutes to hours after bronchoscopy, because you've done nothing to address the root of the problem. Therefore, I would institute measures like antibiotics, hydration, humidification, and mucolytics depending on the clinical scenario. To loosen secretion...