Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2010
Comparative StudyComparison of the Pentax Airway Scope and McGrath Videolaryngoscope with the Macintosh laryngoscope in tracheal intubation by anaesthetists unfamiliar with videolaryngoscopes: a manikin study.
Videolaryngoscopes are becoming widely available and have been suggested as a replacement for the Macintosh in cases of cervical instability or even for use in the first instance. There is limited existing data on the use of videoscopes by experienced anaesthetists who are inexperienced in the use of videoscopes. We used a manikin model to compare time to intubation between the Macintosh blade, Pentax Airway Scope and the McGrath videolaryngoscope in a simulated urgent intubation by 23 experienced anaesthetists with no prior experience in the use of these videoscopes. ⋯ Only 48% of participants (n=11) could intubate within three minutes using the McGrath videolaryngoscope and required a median of three attempts. This difference occurred despite the majority of anaesthetists obtaining a Grade 1 Cormack and Lehane view with both videoscopes. We demonstrated that anaesthetists who were naive to these videoscopes can successfully intubate the trachea using the Pentax Airway Scope but not the McGrath videolaryngoscope.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2010
A unique snapshot of intensive care resources in Australia and New Zealand.
The objective of this study was to analyse and report on the distribution and attributes of intensive care services in Australia and New Zealand for the 2005/2006 financial year A survey was mailed to 155 Australian and 26 New Zealand intensive care units (ICU) listed on the database of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society. A descriptive analytical approach was used. ⋯ These units contain 1485 available beds in the public sector and 538 available beds in the private sector Calculations to determine beds per 100,000 population, medical specialists per 1000 patient days and registered nurses per 1000 patient days showed wide variation. International comparisons are limited by lack of data; however it does appear that intensive care patients in Australia and New Zealand have very good outcomes.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2010
Letter Case ReportsUse of an i-gel in a 'can't intubate/can't ventilate' situation.