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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4
several providers say.
Anesthesiologist Amber Jandik, MD, of Lee
Memorial Outpatient Surgery Center in Fort
Myers, Fla., adds that when a difficult airway
strikes, there's no time to waste hunting down
needed tools and supplies. "Have several sizes
of LMAs available in each procedure room.
Keep your [video laryngoscope] fully charged
and easily accessible. Be sure each staff mem-
ber knows what it is, where it is, and that
when you ask for it, they are to bring it to you
in a hurry."
Uninvited guest
The difficult airway is an uninvited guest to the
OR. It can loudly announce its presence during
the airway exam on a patient with a short, thick
neck, or it can be a surprise intruder in a slen-
der, healthy patient whose vocal cords are
impossible to visualize. "Elicit from the patient
any previous history of airway difficulties," says
anesthesiologist Charles A. DeFrancesco, MD,
of Delmont Surgery Center in Greensburg, Pa.
Regardless of whether the difficult airway
barges in or tiptoes in, you've always got to be
ready and able to give it the old heave-ho.
"Have your go-to rescue device," says anes-
thesiologist Carrie L. Frederick, MD, of
Cumberland, Maine. "Use what you know
how to use. This is not the time to learn some-
A N E S T H E S I A
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763-525-8450
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