Why is airway management important

Share your thoughts. All rights reserved. Say Apr 30, AM. Oxygenating the Patient Bystanders performing CPR are instructed to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. There are at least three reasons for this: Direct resuscitation means coming into contact with any infections the patient may have, as well as exposing an already vulnerable patient to infections from the rescuer.

Oxygenation with a machine enables more control over the process, ensuring that the patient gets neither too little nor too much oxygen. This is especially important with neonates, who have much smaller lungs.

A large breath of air may offer too much oxygen, doing significantly more harm than good. A team-based approach affords better monitoring and control. One team member can oxygenate the patient while the other performs chest compressions.

This reduces distraction, making it easier to observe additional signs of distress. Continued Airway Management An initial cardiac crisis may predict a second one. The Importance of the Right Equipment Most cardiac arrests occur outside of hospital settings.

About Sam D. Say Sam D. Most Popular Articles. Follow us on social media:. Because of the wide range of risks and airway complications, such as esophageal intubation, ET tube dislodgement, aspiration and failed attempt, CPS is including airway management as part of this report.

These skills are often developed over time in the clinical setting. Experience will help the provider to know when to take action or monitor a suspicious airway. Every patient is different, therefore, managing an airway requires many skills and a strong degree of experience.

This is even more important as EMS encounters patients often in the least desirable surroundings or situations. The Safety Watch was a reminder that having multiple types of cricothyrotomy kits can lead to confusion during an airway emergency. Specifically, this means know your equipment so the procedure can be performed with whatever kit your agency stocks. Utilize only one type of kit and remove older or other freelanced kits. It was also recommended that a regular skills refresher for this critical procedure occur on a frequent basis.

Furthermore, it was recommended that this training be performed with the equipment you would use on a daily basis. Your EMS medical director should have oversight of selecting the equipment as various kits are widely available from vendors. Your agency may also prepare a specialty cricothyrotomy kit under direct supervision of your medical director. From complex ventilators to long distance transfers, medical transport teams are frequently dispatched to handle patients with some of the most difficult airways that require advanced airway management.

These can be inter-facility transports or scene calls. Whatever the scenario, there is always risk. This creates the need for the best system design or processes as well as safety behaviors. Discuss endotracheal intubation with your EMS medical director and explore options, alternatives and backup plans for airway management.

One alternative is a supraglottic airway. It can be used as either a backup rescue device or a primary means for airway management. Today, we're going to talk about airway management. Now, airway management is always a hot topic in EMS. But instead of focusing on how to manage an airway, today we're going to look at the why and the when, which is a very critical component of the big picture of airway management.

I'm sure we've heard the terms a million times—less than eight, intubate, or there's some magic number or formula to gauge when we should intubate someone.

Today, we're going to look at the three indications that someone needs an advanced airway. Luckily, today we have many more tools to manage an airway than we did years ago.

And when I say years ago, I'm talking about the days before RSI, noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation, and then, of course, multiple supraglottic airways. So before we dig into that tool belt, let's look at these three indications on why and when we need to manage an airway. Number one is the inability for the patient to protect their own airway. Now, for years, we said if the patient's GCS was less than eight, we intubate, or there was a hard number that we would follow.

Or many times, my personal favorite was if they have a gag reflex, we don't intubate. And if they don't have a gag reflex, we would intubate. We've learned now through science that that really is not a good indicator of airway management. What we really want to look at is if the patient can either spit secretions or swallow secretions on their own.

And if they can, chances are they can manage their own airway. If they can't, then there's a good chance that we're going to need to take control of their airway for them, whether that's with RSI or another method.