Airway Management

Canonical Reading Material for the Exam Candidate
Oh's Intensive Care manual: Chapter 29 (pp. 341) Airway management and acute airway obstruction by Gavin M Joynt and Gordon YS Choi Chapter 76 (pp. 777) Faciomaxillary and upper-airway injuries by Cyrus Edibam and Hayley Robinson Chapter 104 (pp. 1077) Upper airway obstruction in children by Paul James and Sara Hanna ANZICS also has a position statement for percutaneous tracheostomy, which probably represents the "state of the art" as far as the exam candidate is concerned. Summaries and discussions of airway management topics from Life in the Fast Lane are made available as a list of links in the Resources section.

Difficult Airway
Recognition of the difficult airway
Preparation for the difficult airway
Awake fiberoptic intubation in the ICU
Approach to the failed intubation
At-risk extubation
Prevention of hypoxia during airway management

Tracheostomy
Advantages and disadvantages of tracheostomy
Complications of percutaneous and surgical tracheostomy
Percutaneous versus surgical tracheostomy
Technique of percutaneous tracheostomy
Timing of tracheostomy in the ICU
Facilitating speech in a patient with a tracheostomy
Decannulation of tracheostomy

Scenarios in Airway Management
Approach to the patient with severe airway injuries
Post-extubation stridor
Complications of endotracheal intubation
Dislodged tracheostomy