Airway Lifelines
airway management airwaylifeline airwayoptimisation difficult airway vortex approach Jan 22, 2024
“Lifeline”, [noun] - “a line used for saving or preserving life.”
When we stop a patient breathing with anaesthetic drugs, we need to provide oxygen via the mouth. Many centres use The Vortex Approach to guide airway rescue, which uses the term “lifeline” to describe the 3 methods available to do this: Mask, LMA and ETT. 🌪🌪
Here’s what you need to know! 🔥
👉 Lifelines are only required when we enter the vortex by stopping the patient breathing spontaneously.
👉 You can have a maximum of 3 attempts at each lifeline.
👉 The order of these attempts does not matter.
👉 Each lifeline attempt MUST be optimised, and you can do that by
🔺 Optimising position
🔺 Changing the size/type
🔺 Using adjuncts
🔺 Muscle relaxant
In airway rescue, it doesn’t matter which lifeline you succeed with, as long as you succeed quickly.
And remember, as each lifeline fails, your CICO status escalates! 🙍🙋♂️❌
Now you know about lifelines! Does your centre use The Vortex Approach?
Keep an eye out for our Concept Series article on optimising lifelines!
Build knowledge ✅
Improve safety ✅
Ref: https://vortexapproach.org/lifelines
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