Trust your instincts, use the Force – blind nasotracheal intubation

Hi folks! A treat for you from the archives of Anesthesia and Analgesia journal!

In 1950, Dr Noel Gillespie , an anaesthetist from Wisconsin, yes thats right, same place as our own Master Jim Du Canto, wrote this fantastic little article on blind nasotracheal intubation and how it should be performed and why.

Such gems from the article including the following statements:

1. “There is only one way to become a skilled intubator : to intubate patients. Not ten or fifty cases – but thousands. This is true of any method but it applies with especial force to the blind technique.”
2. “May I beg of you this effort? I can promise you that it will be amply rewarded. In my judgement, the most useful ‘trick of the trade’ for an anesthetist, is to insert a tube in the trachea without recourse to laryngoscopy whenever this is desirable”

Here is the full free article.

Enjoy! I found a Japanese article from 1966 which is another beauty on blind nasal intubation..but more on that next week!

regards

Minh