The difficult airway: mechanisms for effective dissemination of critical information.

The perioperative management and dissemination of critical information regarding a patient with an unexpected difficult intubation, including successful application of a difficult airway algorithm (Figure 1), are described. Documentation and dissemination of critical information include entry of patient data into an in-hospital computerized Difficult Airway/Intubation Registry, simultaneous application of a highly visible Difficult Airway/Intubation Patient Wrist Band (coded for access to computer registry), summary reports distributed to health care providers, and enrollment of the patient in the Medic Alert Foundation International's newly established category difficult airway/intubation for 24-hour access. We postulate that the widespread use of the procedures described in this report may reduce the contribution of unexpected difficult airway/intubation to anesthetic morbidity and mortality.