Objective: To describe the conditions and characteristics of the tracheostomy procedure in a tertiary health care unit and analyze its association with the recorded outcome. Materials and methods: A retrospective, observational and descriptive study that included patients operated in the Otorhinolaryngology Unit of the Northwest National Medical Center, Sonora, from August 2014 to August 2015. Fifty-two (52) complete clinical records of consecutive series of cases were reviewed, out of which 57% were men with an average age of 56.2 years old. Descriptive statistics was used to characterize the distribution, and the differences were evaluated by chi-square test and Student’s t-test. Results: Seventy-one percent (71%) of the patients underwent surgery in an operating room and 29% in the ICU. In the latter, more than half of the cases had a tracheostomy (51.92%). Prolonged intubation was ...