Safe Apnoea Time
airway management airwaylifeline airwayoptimisation patient safety safe apnoea time Feb 15, 2024
Improving your margin of safety! 🦺🫵
When a patient is given general anaesthetic drugs, they often become apnoeic and we must provide oxygen for them via one of the 3 lifelines. The time between stopping the patient breathing and arriving at the Green Zone is the “apnoea time”, and the more difficulty you have achieving oxygenation, the longer this apnoea time is! ✅
Safe apnoea time is the time it takes for the oxygen saturations to drop below 90% after the patient becomes apnoeic. 🫁
Safe apnoea time is influenced by
👉 Low O2 reservoir
🔺High BMI
🔺Pregnancy
🔺Inability to effectively preoxygenate
🔺Severe cardiorespiratory disease
👉High O2 demand
🔺High BMI
🔺Pregnancy
🔺High metabolic rate
🔺Critically ill
So, how do we increase safe apnoea time and make our patients safer?
Preoxygenation!! 🫁✅
Check out our Concept Series articles on Preoxygenation and Bag Mask Ventilation!
Build knowledge ✅
Improve safety ✅
Ref: https://vortexapproach.org/safeapnoeatime
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.

Unlock Exclusive Free Content
Join the mailing list. We give too much great content away for free, see what all the fuss is about.
Categories
All Categories abg acid base adrenaline adrenaline dosing adrenaline in anaphylaxis aed ahpra ahpra audit airway airway adjuncts airway assessment airway emergency airway filter airway management airway mass airway rescue airway trauma airwaylifeline airwayoptimisation algorithm als als aftercare alsmedications amiodarone anaesthesia anaesthetic anaesthetic machine anaesthetics analgesia anaphylaxis anaphylaxis aftercare anaphylaxis diagnosis anaphylaxis differential diagnosis anaphylaxis management anaphylaxis triggers anatomy antibiotics anzaag anzcor apnoea arterial blood gas arterial line arterial line complications arterial line errors arterial lines arterialcannulation arteriallines asa article asl aspiration aspiration risk assessing pain assessment awareness bag mask ventilation bis bispectral index blade bleeding bleeding airway block blood pressure blood pressure monitoring blood products blood safety bluey breathing circuit bronchoscopy bronchospasm cannula technique cannulation capnography cardiac arrest cardiac output cardiac surgery causesofcardiacarrest central venous catheter centralvenouscatheter cerebral oximetry checklist checklists chlorhexidine cico circuit climate climate change closed loop communication co2 coagulation cognitive aid colonoscopy communication complications compression rates compressions contaminant coolinginmh core body temperature cpd cpr cricoid pressure cricothyrotomy crisis resource management critical incident cross matching cvc cvc complications dantrolene debriefing defibrillation dental surgery depth of anaesthesia diagnostics difficult airway drug errors drug safety drugs ecg education emergence delirium emergency emergency management end tidal carbon dioxide endoscopy endotracheal tubes ent entropy environment equipment ercp ett exchange catheter ffp fluid resuscitation fluid therapy fona formal diagnosis ga gas gas analysis gastroscopy general anaesthetic gloves glp-1 ra glp-1 receptor agonists haemoglobin haemorrhage haemostasis handle hazard heart rate hemodynamics hereditarydisorder high flow hot debrief human factors hypnosis hypotension hypoxia icu induction infection infection control inotropes intravenous intravenous cannulation intubation invasive blood pressure monitoring invasive device invasivebloodpressuremonitoring iv induction ketamine laryngeal mask laryngectomy laryngoscope laryngospasm lifelines lma long term venous access major surgery malignanthyperthermia mallampati mask ventilation massive transfusion massive transfusion protocol mast cells mean arterial pressure medications mh mhtesting mls monitoring muscle relaxants neck surgery nerve monitoring neuromuscular junction nmt non-invasive blood pressure non-shockable rhythms nurse burnout nurse wellbeing nursing obstetrics anaesthesia obstruction opioids ot oxygen oxygenation ozempic paediatric paediatric anaesthesia paediatric t piece paediatrics pain pain management patient safety perioperativenursing pipeline positioning post operative preoxygenation professional development protocol publications radiation rapid sequence induction recovery recovery issues recovery room emeregencies refractory anaphyalxis refractory hypotension regionalanaesthesia resources reversal rotem safe apnoea time safety scalpel scalpel technique sedation seldinger shared airway shockable rhythms signs of anaphylaxis skin prick testing spinal spinal anaesthetic sterile procedures surgery surgical safety checklist tachycardia team time-out teamwork teg temperature testing tonsillectomy tracheostomy transfusion reaction treatment tryptase ultrasound ultrasoundprobes vascular surgery ventilation vf videolaryngoscope volatileagents vortex approach vt waste