intubation - Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog

Own the Airway!

February 9, 2011 By Chris Nickson 11 Comments

Bougie-assisted digital intubation. (a) After the epiglottis is identified by palpating it with the long finger of the left hand, the bougie is threaded through the glottis and advanced into the trachea. Tracheal clicking elicits tactile vibrations, which confirm tracheal placement of the bougie. (b) The bougie is withdrawn slightly so that the 25-cm mark is at the corner of the lip. The endotracheal tube is threaded over the bougie while the bougie is stabilized in place. (c) With the bougie held in place, the endotracheal tube is turned a quarter turn to the left and then advanced to an appropriate depth. (d) The tube is held in place while the bougie is withdrawn. Tracheal intubation is then confirmed using capnography or an esophageal detector device.

The LITFL team have scoured the web to find the best collection of online instructional videos known to man or woman to help you ‘own the airway’!

Filed Under: Anaesthetics, eLearning, Emergency Medicine, Featured, Intensive Care, Video Tagged With: adjuncts, airway, bougie, cricothyrotomy, emcrit, intubate, intubation, needle, open, oxygenate, ventilate

Man versus Machine

July 22, 2010 By Chris Nickson 2 Comments

manvsmachine

A patient develops hypoxia soon after intubation. Where lies the problem? Is it man or machine?

Filed Under: eLearning, Emergency Medicine, Featured, Health, Intensive Care, Respiratory Tagged With: critical care, DOPES, emergency, endotracheal tube, gas trapping, hypoxia, intubation, MASH, mechanical ventilation

Time to tighten those sphincters!

June 16, 2010 By Chris Nickson 1 Comment

A 2 year-old boy requires intubation to manage his acutely obstructed airway. He is going downhill fast. What are you going to do?

Filed Under: Education, eLearning, Featured, Medical Specialty, Pediatrics Tagged With: acute airway obstruction, airway, croup, cuffed, endotracheal tube, epiglottitis, inhalational induction, intubation, obstruction, rapid sequence, toddler, uncuffed

If the lights go out…

March 23, 2009 By Chris Nickson 7 Comments

improvsied_laryngoscope

… You could try this technique ( but hopefully you won’t need to anytime soon): If the light on the laryngoscope fails, clean the contact between the blade and the handle, and check that the bulb is screwed in place securely. If this fails, use your spare laryngoscope, which you should have instantly available. Or, [...]

Filed Under: Anaesthetics, Education, Emergency Medicine, Equipment / Technology, Procedure Tagged With: intubation, laryngoscope, light, spoon