• L Theiler, R Greif, H Fischer, N Voelke, R Basciani, and F Hasty.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management, University of Miami MillerSchool of Medicine, Miami, Florida, United States - ltheiler@med.miami.edu.
• Minerva Anestesiol. 2012 May 28.

BackgroundWhile surveys about anaesthesia practice appear regularly in the anaesthesia literature, they are usually bound to one country. We compared the approach to specific airway management issues among anaesthesiologists from three different European countries. METHODS A questionnaire was distributed during the main session of three anaesthesia meetings in Austria(A), the UK, and Switzerland(CH). Questions concerned whether anaesthesiologists routinely check for risk factors associated with difficult mask ventilation; whether anaesthesiologists mask ventilate prior to administering neuromuscular blocking drugs (NMBD); whether anaesthesiologists apply cricoid pressure. RESULTS We evaluated 266 questionnaires. No significant differences in the frequency of checking predictors were found, except for "age" (UK: 28%, A: 13%, CH:11%, p=0.01). Fewer anaesthesiologists from the UK always check mask ventilation before NMBD (UK: 34%, A: 72%, CH: 67%, p<0.001); but they check mask ventilation more often when risk factors are present (UK: 36%, A: 13%, CH: 20%, p=0.004). Very few anaesthesiologists from the UK never apply cricoid pressure (UK: 2%, A: 40%, CH: 49%, p<0.001), but almost all of them apply it in case of rapid sequence intubation (UK: 96%, A: 52%, CH:30%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION Answers from anaesthesiologists in the UK differed significantly from those in A and CH. Anaesthesiologists in the UK check mask ventilation after induction less frequently, but they check more often when risk factors of difficult mask ventilation are present. Cricoid pressure seems to remain an important part of the rapid sequence induction technique in the UK, whereas anaesthesiologists in Austria and Switzerland rely less on this technique.

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