T
he scary part about managing the difficult airway is that you
don't always know when you'll be faced with one. About 6%
of adults who have normal airway anatomy end up present-
ing problems, says Richard Cooper, MD, a professor in the
department of anesthesia and pain management at Toronto
General Hospital in Canada. "Let's call those cases what they are," he
says. "If you're performing laryngoscopy for the purpose of seeing the
larynx, and you don't see it, the intubation isn't difficult. It's failed." With
video laryngoscopes, failure is never an option.
1 1 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6
Why Settle for Unsafe
Airway Management?
Video laryngoscopes turn challenging intubations into
routine procedures.
Daniel Cook | Executive Editor
• EASY ACCESS There's no arguing that video
laryngoscopes have made airway management safer.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
