Role of contextualizing a crisis scenario on the performance of a cricothyrotomy procedural task

Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Therapy (SEDAR), Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES) and Spanish Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) Guideline for difficult airway management. Part II

The Airway Management section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Pain Therapy (SEDAR), the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES), and the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) present the Guide for the comprehensive management of difficult airway in adult patients. Its principles are focused on the human factors, cognitive processes for decision-making in critical situations, and optimization in the progression of strategies application to preserve adequate alveolar oxygenation in order to enhance safety and the quality of care. The document provides evidence-based recommendations, theoretical-educational tools, and implementation tools, mainly cognitive aids, applicable to airway management in the fields of anesthesiology, critical care, emergencies, and prehospital medicine. For this purpose, an extensive literature search was conducted following PRISMA-R guidelines and was analyzed using the GRADE methodology. Recommendations were formulated according to the GRADE methodology. Recommendations for sections with low-quality evidence were based on expert opinion through consensus reached via a Delphi questionnaire.

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Educational Research: The Best Publications of 2015

OBJECTIVE

The objectives were to critically appraise the medical education research literature of 2015 and review the highest-quality quantitative and qualitative examples.

METHODS

A total of 434 emergency medicine (EM)-related articles were discovered upon a search of ERIC, PsychINFO, PubMED, and SCOPUS. These were both quantitative and qualitative in nature. All were screened by two of the authors using previously published exclusion criteria, and the remaining were appraised by all authors using a previously published scoring system. The highest scoring articles were then reviewed.

RESULTS

Sixty-one manuscripts were scored, and 10 quantitative and two qualitative papers were the highest scoring and are reviewed and summarized in this article.

CONCLUSIONS

This installment in this critical appraisal series reviews 12 of the highest-quality EM-related medical education research manuscripts published in 2015.

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Educational Research: The Best Publications of 2015

OBJECTIVE

The objectives were to critically appraise the medical education research literature of 2015 and review the highest-quality quantitative and qualitative examples.

METHODS

A total of 434 emergency medicine (EM)-related articles were discovered upon a search of ERIC, PsychINFO, PubMED, and SCOPUS. These were both quantitative and qualitative in nature. All were screened by two of the authors using previously published exclusion criteria, and the remaining were appraised by all authors using a previously published scoring system. The highest scoring articles were then reviewed.

RESULTS

Sixty-one manuscripts were scored, and 10 quantitative and two qualitative papers were the highest scoring and are reviewed and summarized in this article.

CONCLUSIONS

This installment in this critical appraisal series reviews 12 of the highest-quality EM-related medical education research manuscripts published in 2015.

Determining the amount of training needed for competency of anesthesia trainees in ultrasonographic identification of the cricothyroid membrane

Background

Airway guidelines recommend the use of ultrasound to localize the cricothyroid membrane prior to airway manipulation in difficult airways. In this study, we aimed to determine the amount of training anesthesia trainees would need to achieve competence in bedside ultrasound to identify the cricothyroid membrane.

Methods

This is a prospective non-randomized cohort study in the Department of Anesthesia at Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Following institutional ethics approval, six anesthesia trainees consisting of four residents and two fellows underwent a 2-h training session on neck ultrasound to identify neck landmarks and the cricothyroid membrane. The trainees had no previous airway ultrasound experience. One-two weeks later, each trainee performed consecutive neck ultrasound scans on 20 healthy volunteers to identify the cricothyroid membrane. Cumulative sum (CUSUM) learning curves were constructed for each trainee. Primary outcome was the number of ultrasound examinations required to achieve competence, defined as 90% success rate in a series of 20 ultrasound scans. Secondary outcomes were the overall success rate, the time (sec.) required to perform the task, and 3-month skills assessment.

Results

CUSUM analysis showed four trainees achieved competence with a mean [range] success rate of 94.0% [90–100%] and a median [range] number of attempts of 14 [9–18]. Two trainees did not achieve competence, but obtained a success rate of 75.0 and 80.0% each. Overall (number of attempts) success rate was 88.3% (106/120) with a mean (SD) time of 36.9 (9.0) sec. Three months after training, ultrasound of five consecutive neck scans showed a mean success rate of 86.7% (26/30) and mean (SD) time of 47.7 (16.0) sec.

Conclusions

After a short 2-h training session, most anesthesia trainees (n = 4/6) achieved competence in ultrasound-identification of the cricothyroid membrane with less than 20 scans in a mean time less than 60 s., and that they remain reasonably competent 3 months later. The learning curve for ultrasound identification of the cricothyroid membrane seems to be short even without prior airway ultrasound experience.