Surgical Airway Clinical video

Scalpel

OKay folks, it took me a while to track this down but here it is!

Firstly this is a simulated upper airway emergency in a great BBC medical drama called Bodies

Secondly, I find this simulated emergency to be still very useful to demonstrate human factors in airway crises. The doctors and nurses in the drama display some useful actions but also some classic traps in crisis management. Note the poor communication between the male and female doctors.Can you list the useful vs ineffective demonstrated? Your list should total at least 10 actions ( 5 vs 5)

Thirdly there is a glaring omission depicted in the management of the airway crisis. Can anyone pick it? Otherwise this is a fairly accurate simulation of an upper airway acute obstruction leading to a crisis..in a hospital setting.

Here is the video

Upcoming PHARM Podcast : interview of someone who recently performed their first emergency surgical airway. Tune in to listen up and learn.

2 thoughts on “Surgical Airway Clinical video

  1. Freaky…saw this video last month up in Townsville in it’s entirety and posted on doctors.net.uk last week to see if the blog-o-sphere could track down the video as moves from dislodged needle cricothyroidotomy to attempts at surgical airway and the unfortunate patient’s demise.

    If anyone’s got the video in it’s entirety, I’d be grateful! Is a good example to use in sim training.

    Also raises issues of ‘who to do’ the surgical airway – if I recall, preference for many anaesthetists in NAP4 was for needle cricothyroidotomy, then direct the surgeon to do the surgical airway…I am not sure how much use an obs registrar would be in this scenario and so I’d argue that ANYONE who manages the airway needs to be prepared to do this procedure.

    10 yrs since my first emergency surgical airway and I still remember the chaos. Technique refined a bit now with a handful more under my belt, but like all emergencies communication and preparedness are key.

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