Jonathan Kei1, Donald P Mebust1, Laura V Duggan2. 1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, California. 2. Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Surgical cricothyrotomy is a rare procedure but it must be mastered by any physician who is involved in advanced airway management. Lack of experience and practice, the high-stress nature of a "can't intubate, can't oxygenate" emergency, and the unavailability of realistic simulators all contribute to physician hesitance and inaptitude while employing cricothyrotomy during difficult and failed airways. The REAL CRIC Trainer was created to alleviate some of the barriers surrounding a surgical airway. It is designed to provide the user an affordable, easy to replicate, reusable, and extremely realistic experience in cricothyrotomy to prepare for this rare event. DISCUSSION: The REAL CRIC Trainer uses a 3-dimensional printed tracheal model that is covered with pork belly skin, replicating human neck tissue. Red dyed normal saline is connected to the pork belly using intravenous tubing to simulate bleeding as an incision is made into the porcine skin. A bag-valve-mask connected to an endotracheal tube and to the trachea model will simulate breathing and replicate the puff of air experienced as the cricothyroid membrane is pierced with a scalpel. This simulator is cost effective and easy to replicate. Detailed step-by-step instructions are provided so that physicians working in any specialty involved in advanced airway management can easily recreate this trainer. CONCLUSIONS: This simulator makes it practical for physicians in a variety of clinical settings to incorporate its use into regular practice sessions, thereby assuring that physicians are ready to perform an emergent cricothyrotomy if necessary.
BACKGROUND: Surgical cricothyrotomy is a rare procedure but it must be mastered by any physician who is involved in advanced airway management. Lack of experience and practice, the high-stress nature of a "can't intubate, can't oxygenate" emergency, and the unavailability of realistic simulators all contribute to physician hesitance and inaptitude while employing cricothyrotomy during difficult and failed airways. The REAL CRIC Trainer was created to alleviate some of the barriers surrounding a surgical airway. It is designed to provide the user an affordable, easy to replicate, reusable, and extremely realistic experience in cricothyrotomy to prepare for this rare event. DISCUSSION: The REAL CRIC Trainer uses a 3-dimensional printed tracheal model that is covered with pork belly skin, replicating human neck tissue. Red dyed normal saline is connected to the pork belly using intravenous tubing to simulate bleeding as an incision is made into the porcine skin. A bag-valve-mask connected to an endotracheal tube and to the trachea model will simulate breathing and replicate the puff of air experienced as the cricothyroid membrane is pierced with a scalpel. This simulator is cost effective and easy to replicate. Detailed step-by-step instructions are provided so that physicians working in any specialty involved in advanced airway management can easily recreate this trainer. CONCLUSIONS: This simulator makes it practical for physicians in a variety of clinical settings to incorporate its use into regular practice sessions, thereby assuring that physicians are ready to perform an emergent cricothyrotomy if necessary.
Authors: Jarosław Meyer-Szary; Marlon Souza Luis; Szymon Mikulski; Agastya Patel; Finn Schulz; Dmitry Tretiakow; Justyna Fercho; Kinga Jaguszewska; Mikołaj Frankiewicz; Ewa Pawłowska; Radosław Targoński; Łukasz Szarpak; Katarzyna Dądela; Robert Sabiniewicz; Joanna Kwiatkowska Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-03-11 Impact factor: 3.390