Chapter 4 - Structured Planning of Airway Management

Summary

When airway management is indicated, to avoid a bad outcome, patient safety will be maximised by careful decision making about and careful implementation of the chosen approach. This chapter addresses planning for the safest approach to securing the airway by assessing the patient for anatomical and physiological predictors of difficulty with airway management. When such difficulty is predicted, awake tracheal intubation will often provide the best margin of safety; indications for the procedure are discussed. Equally, when technical difficulty is predicted, the pre-conditions required to safely proceed with airway management after the induction of general anaesthesia are addressed. Predicted or not, difficulty encountered with tracheal intubation or supraglottic airway use in the unconscious patient must be met with a methodical and stepwise approach. This includes calling for help, maintaining patient oxygenation and methodically proceeding from one device type or technique to another, thus avoiding multiple futile attempts with the same device. Failure of a maximum of three attempts at the intended technique (most often tracheal intubation or use of a supraglottic airway) should be taken as an indication to refrain from further attempts, call for help, maintain patient oxygenation and reassess the plan for next steps. Finally, a ‘cannot intubate, cannot oxygenate’ situation is defined by the failure to successfully oxygenate the patient with all of tracheal intubation, face mask ventilation or a supraglottic airway and requires prompt front of neck airway access (‘surgical airway’).