Evolving challenges and opportunities for difficult airway management guidelines (original) (raw)
Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia-journal Canadien D Anesthesie
Airway management is a key competency for every anesthesiologist. In 1990, Caplan et al. reported that 34% of anesthesia-related claims were related to airway management.1 Since that time, several national airway management guidelines have been published with the aim to establish and promote safer airway management practice.2,3 Since the publication of those guidelines, studies have shown a decrease in anesthesia complications related to airway management.4,5 Of course, it is not possible to determine causality, and there have been other significant changes in practice over this time, e.g., supraglottic airways are now used in more than half the patients in the United Kingdom (UK).5 Unfortunately, despite these advances in both protocols and technology, airway complications in anesthesia still occur, and they are often associated with severe complications, i.e., brain damage or death.5 Herein, we consider the contents of future airway management guidelines that might create a further i
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Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing
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