The Nurse Anesthesia Team gets together on this episode to talk all things cricothyrotomy in preparation for the AANA Annual Congress in Nashville! Jeremy, Sass, and Mark will be hosting and running the Advanced Airway Skills Workshop at the Annual Congress. Part of that workshop includes practicing several cricothyrotomy techniques. 

In this episode, they discuss the three cricothyrotomy techniques that include: (1) percutaneous needle cricothyrotomy; (2) percutaneous wire-guided cricothyrotomy; & (3) the surgical bougie-assisted cricothyrotomy. Even though this is a rare procedure, it is absolutely essential to have an understanding of these techniques and to regularly practice them so that you’ll be ready if you’re ever in an emergency airway situation where you cannot intubate and cannot ventilate/cannot oxygenate. 

References

1.Apfelbaum JL, et al. 2022 American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Management of the Difficult Airway. Anesthesiology. 2022;136(1):31-81. 

2.Cook TM, et al. Fourth National Audit Project. Major complications of airway management in the UK: results of the Fourth National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Difficult Airway Society. Part 1: anaesthesia. Br J Anaesth. 2011 May;106(5):617-31. 

3.Joffe AM, et al. “Management of Difficult Tracheal Intubation: A Closed Claims Analysis.” Anesthesiology vol. 131,4 (2019): 818-829. 

4.Law JA, et al. “Canadian Airway Focus Group updated consensus-based recommendations for management of the difficult airway: part 1. Difficult airway management encountered in an unconscious patient.” Canadian journal of anaesthesia vol. 68,9 (2021): 1373-1404.

5.Infographic on the bougie-assisted cricothyrotomy - Price TM, et al. “Emergency front of neck access in airway management.” BJA education vol. 19,8 (2019): 246-253.

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