Achieving Competence in Basic and Advanced Airway Techniques

For previously untrained interns, 25 to 30 attempts at bag-mask ventilation and intubation were needed to achieve even modest competency.

The amount of experience or training needed to achieve competency in basic airway management techniques is not known. Researchers in Tokyo measured success rates of bag-mask ventilation and intubation in adult general anesthesia patients for 15 interns during a 3-month anesthesia rotation. None of the interns planned to specialize in anesthesia.

Individual competency for either skill was defined as achieving an 80% success rate. Overall, of 695 bag-mask ventilation attempts, 592 (85%) were successful. The median number of attempts to achieve competency was 25. Tracheal intubation was attempted on 679 patients and was successful in 528 (78%). The median number of attempts to achieve competency for tracheal intubation was 29. By the end of the…

Reviewing Authors

Emily L. Brown, MD

Ron M. Walls, MD, FRCPC, FAAEM

Disclosures

Speaker's bureauAirway Management Education Center, LLC

EquityAirway Management Education Center, LLC

Grant / Research supportAgency for Health Care Research and Quality

Editorial boardsManual of Emergency Airway Management; Rosen's Emergency Medicine; UpToDate; Scientific American Medicine