Course description
Rationale
Airway obstruction is a potential complication of many conditions and procedures in health. It is generally well managed, both in terms of prevention and rescue, however a small and significant percentage of patients suffer serious morbidity and in some instances death as a result of a critically obstructed airway. Evidence derived from audit, case studies and coroners’ reports suggest that clinicians are inadequately prepared to recognise and manage a Can’t Intubate Can’t Oxygenate (CICO) situation; a situation that may be improved by technical and behavioural training and greater attention to systems improvement.
Themes
This course focuses on emergency responses aimed at four phases of care relevant to a Can’t Intubate Can’t Oxygenate (CICO) situation:
- supraglottic airway management aimed to relieve airway obstruction and avert deterioration to CICO;
- the transitional phase between supraglottic airway management and declaration of CICO;
- management of CICO with infraglottic airway rescue and
- management of a department or facility to ensure staff are prepared to manage CICO.
While a variety of airway rescue techniques are described, a key message of the program is that clinicians and their teams should be trained and familiar with the specific techniques and equipment that they will use. This program presents specific approaches to supraglottic (The Vortex Model) and infraglottic rescue (Dr Andrew Heard’s Western Australian model) and the equipment that these authors recommend as part of these approaches.
Target audience
The course is intended for health professional teams from a range of settings who may be required to manage a CICO situation. Typical settings include: anaesthesia, surgery and perioperative care, emergency, intensive care.
Group size
The maximum number of participants for this course depends on faculty numbers, rooms, equipment and other host site capabilities. We recommend 12-24 participants and a participant to instructor ratio of 4-6:1.
