Gaining control of the airway in a critically unwell patient is a key skill of the critical care team and littered with potential for difficulty and complications.

NAP4 highlighted the real dangers faced with their review of complications of airway management in the UK, lessons have been learnt and practice has progressed. As always there is room to improve on current practice and a recent paper published in Anaesthesia describes a comprehensive strategy to optimise oxygenation, airway management, and tracheal intubation in critically ill patients in all hospital locations.

In this podcast we cover;

• Why this matters to all involved in critically unwell patients, not just those delivering RSI
• Recap of RSI, the procedure and its indictions
• Headlines from NAP4
• Strategies highlighted to optimise airway management and oxygenation
• How this impacts our prehospital and inhospital practive

We'd love to hear your thoughts so please leave your comments below or contact us via twitter @TheResusRoom

Enjoy!

Simon, Rob & James

References & Further Reading

NAP4

Guidelines for the management of tracheal intubation in critically ill adults. A Higgs B. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2017

Early identification of patients at risk for difficult intubation in the intensive care unit: development and validation of the MACOCHA score in a multicenter cohort study.De Jong A. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013

Introduction to the Vortex; vimeo