Page 34 - Delaware Medical Journal - March/April 2019
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Impact of Video Laryngoscopy on Resident Airway Management
Stephen Senichka, DO; Stephen Koczirka, MD; Deb Marco, RN, BSN, CCRC; Brett Schuchardt, MS; Rebecca Kowalski; Barbara Davis, RN; Brian Levine, MD; Ryan Arnold, MD
INTRODUCTION
One of the most critical, life-saving procedures performed in
the emergency department (ED) is emergent intubation. The manner in which this is performed has remained fairly standard over several decades — direct laryngoscopy (DL) using a Mac
or Miller blade, with medications used to induce and paralyze. This skill has been taught in emergency medicine (EM) residency programs with time-honed curriculums, anesthesia rotations,
and bedside teaching. Within the past decade, the paradigm has shifted with the introduction and dissemination of video laryngoscopy (VL) as an affordable and available alternative to the traditional standard of care.6
Several studies have been performed comparing the two methods of intubation. At the very least, the research suggests a similar success rate in the two methods; in fact, many studies indicate that
complication.1,2,4,5,7-10 Armed with this knowledge and the improved ability to teach real-time, VL has become increasingly utilized for emergent airway management during EM training and in the community. Little attention has been directed to
how this impacts the teaching of airway management in an EM airway management.
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of VL-attempted intubations at a large academic ED compared to traditional DL intubations. Anecdotally, there seems to be that the traditional bedside education of direct laryngoscopy may no longer be occurring. This paradigm shift away from routine DL use certainly raises the question of how this will affect airway management amongst young learners in settings
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Del Med J | March/April 2019 | Vol. 91 | No. 2
