May the Airway be Ever In Your Favor

Presentation for the 2014 Airway Course @NYP

This year I’m giving the lecture on emergency cricothyrotomy at our annual airway course. This is a relatively simple procedure, but it’s mastery presents several training challenges. Beyond knowledge of relevant anatomy, and familiarity with a rarely performed procedure, this low frequency event almost always occurs in the high stress/high stakes environment of the failed airway.

Success in this environment requires more than knowledge of anatomy, or familiarity with the steps of a procedure: it demands leadership and teamwork, situational awareness, logistical preparedness, and insight into how the mind works in moments of stress. Unless you can move quickly through the failed airway algorithm and arrive at the point where scalpel meets skin then your technical knowledge is useless.

Over the next two weeks the EMBER Project’s daily posts will highlight these technical and non-technical skills related to the surgical airway, and the environment in which it is performed. We will curate some great online resources, and guide you through a multiplicity of concepts to create a clearly demarcated roadmap to master the material. After the course “The EMBER” (a bundle of online resources) will be posted on Storify in a concise format that will offer a permanent reference and future resource for review.

If you’re attending the course, this will be an essential addition to your learning, and will prep your knowledge base for the upcoming sim and cadaver lab work. For others who want a good review, this is a free and open access resource. Before getting started, I want to thank all the great educators and airway experts out there out there, who have taken the time to make their experience and knowledge available to all of us.

The adventure will get started in earnest tomorrow, so get ready for some cricothyrotomy madness by following here, AND on Facebook or Twitter to get the full program. See you at the head of the bed, and may the airway be ever in your favor!