• Lars Hüter, Torsten Schreiber, Jens Reichel, and Konrad Schwarzkopf.
• Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany. lars.hueter@med.uni-jena.de
• Eur J Emerg Med. 2009 Apr 1;16(2):97-9.

AbstractWe describe the condition of education and equipment regarding prehospital airway management in the German federal state of Thuringia, representing a part of former Eastern Germany. In 2006 a postal survey of the 39 emergency medical stations (EMS) in Thuringia was carried out. The response rate was 100%. In 72% of the EMS, a device for extraglottic airway management and in all EMS a device for cricothyrotomy was available. A device to monitor end-tidal CO2 was available in 41%. Difficulties in airway management in the past two years were reported from 74% of the EMS. Ongoing training and education in airway management is provided in 82% of the emergency districts. This survey reveals wide variations in the equipment for airway management available to prehospital emergency physicians in Thuringia. Given the reported difficulties in airway management, availability of a more standardized set of airway management devices in Thuringia may be helpful.

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