DOI: 10.1097/01.CCM.0000070163.50638.C8
,
Issn Print: 0090-3493
Publication Date: 2003/06/01
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
 |
Checking for direct PDF access through Ovid | |
Excerpt
Manual of Emergency Airway Management is the companion manual to the National Emergency Airway Management Course. This manual is intended for physicians and healthcare providers practicing in an emergency care setting or similar settings who have the potential to care for patients who may have life-threatening airway crises. These front-line workers must be able to provide efficient resuscitative care to all patients, regardless of the comorbid condition of the patient or the complexity of the airway of these patients. The primary goal of this manual aims to assist in the preparation of those caring for such patients by reviewing quickly and thoroughly important airway management issues.
The manual is divided into five principal sections that are further divided into several short and concise chapters. Using an outline format, the authors rapidly review crucial topics of emergency airway management. Each chapter begins with a definition or an introduction of the topic, summarizes vital airway techniques appropriate to the topic, and then concludes with relevant “tips and pearls.” Essential information is highlighted in boxes. Easy, clearcut illustrations add to the further understanding of the topic. The authors also include references for additional reading at the end of each chapter.
The first section begins by concentrating on how initially to approach the airway and how finally to make the decision to intubate. Thereafter, the first section provides the reader with suggestions on how to evaluate an airway and how to predict airway difficulty at intubation. Several airway techniques, such as rapid sequence intubation, caring for patients with a difficult or failed airway, and caring for those patients who are near death and in a “crash” situation, are highlighted and explained in a straightforward manner. Additionally, the first section provides several easy-to-follow, step-by-step treatment algorithms.
The second section, “Airway Management Techniques,” expands further on topics introduced in the first section. Several airway techniques, from basic airway management using bag mask ventilation to the surgical airway with cricothyrotomy and transtracheal jet ventilation techniques, are given special consideration. Two chapters are also devoted to management of the pediatric patient and to potential problems that may be encountered with the difficult pediatric airway. Another chapter discusses the use of fiberoptic laryngoscopy. The third section is very valuable and concentrates on the pharmacology of muscle relaxants and sedatives commonly used during intubation, as well as their indications and contraindications.
Perhaps one of the most useful sections of the manual is the fourth section, which provides helpful treatment approaches for managing the airway in different clinical scenarios, such as the trauma patient, the patient with cardiogenic shock, the patient with increased intracranial pressure, the patient with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and the pregnant patient, to name a few. The fifth and final section reviews briefly mechanical ventilation and noninvasive ventilatory support in the emergency room. Because this manual is intended for emergency airway management, it does not go into great detail regarding this aspect of care. Finally, there is an appendix, which briefly elaborates on the need for a difficult airway equipment cart in the emergency department and the suggested equipment. In addition, the appendix contains a limited vendor list of emergency airway products.
Although this manual was intended for healthcare workers practicing in an emergency department setting, it also is relevant to the practice of critical care medicine as intensivists are also often faced with patients who develop life-threatening airway situations as their illness progresses.
