Emergency front of neck access in children: a new learning approach in a rabbit model

Ulmer, Francis; Lennertz, Julian; Greif, Robert; Bütikofer, Lukas; Theiler, Lorenz; Riva, Thomas (2020). Emergency front of neck access in children: a new learning approach in a rabbit model. British journal of anaesthesia, 125(1), e61-e68. Oxford University Press 10.1016/j.bja.2019.11.002

[img] Text
Ulmer BrJAnaesth 2020.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (867kB)
[img]
Preview
Text
Ulmer BrJAnaesth 2019_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND).

Download (1MB) | Preview
[img]
Preview
Text (Appendix A)
Ulmer BrJAnaesth 2019_appendix.pdf - Supplemental Material
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND).

Download (64kB) | Preview

Background: Cannot intubate-cannot ventilate situations in healthy children are uncommon but are often associated with poor outcome. Several airway management algorithms suggest emergency tracheal access. Little agreement exists on how to perform emergency front of the neck access (eFONA) in children <8 yr. We studied the learning curves of clinicians performing simulated paediatric eFONA.

Methods: After watching an instructional video, 50 physicians, from five medical specialties, performed 10 emergency tracheotomies on rabbit cadavers. We analysed their learning curves relative to performance time and concurring injuries.

Results: With an overall success rate of 94%, performance time decreased from 107 s (standard deviation [sd], 45) to 55 s (sd 17) over 10 attempts. The learning curve was steep between the first and the fourth attempts with an 11% decrease in performance time (95% confidence interval [CI], 9-13%; P<0.001) per attempt and then flattened to a 4% (95% CI, 3-5%; P<0.001) decrease per attempt between the fourth and the tenth attempt. Age, years of clinical experience, and sex showed a significant effect on the learning curve, whereas medical specialty and adult eFONA experience did not. The 58% (95% CI, 44-72%) probability for severe injury during the first attempt decreased to 14% (95% CI, 8-20%) at the second attempt. Men were more likely to cause minor injuries than women (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Irrespective of medical specialty, paediatric clinicians acquired the eFONA technique within four attempts and were on average able to establish an airway in <1 min when performing emergency tracheotomy on a paediatric airway simulator.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Intensive Care, Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesiology (DINA) > Clinic and Policlinic for Anaesthesiology and Pain Therapy
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine > Paediatric Intensive Care
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Department of Clinical Research (DCR)

UniBE Contributor:

Ulmer, Francis, Lennertz, Julian Martin Josef, Greif, Robert, Bütikofer, Lukas (B), Theiler, Lorenz, Riva, Thomas

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0007-0912

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Language:

English

Submitter:

Anette van Dorland

Date Deposited:

11 Dec 2019 14:22

Last Modified:

20 Feb 2024 14:16

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.bja.2019.11.002

PubMed ID:

31812268

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.136311

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/136311

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback