Abstract

DUQUE SIERRA, LUIS FELIPE. Digital intubation for the management of the failed airway in the emergency department. CES Med. [online]. 2011, vol.25, n.2, pp.193-202. ISSN 0120-8705.

The establishment of a definitive airway is a mainstay step in directed life support for the seriously injured or critically ill patient, and is also a defining skill for an emergency medicine-specialist. The different strategies used for the prediction of a difficult airway, can rarely be applied in the context of the emergency room patient, that is why the emergency medicine specialist faces patients with greater likelihood of having an airway with a difficult or failed intubation. In our hospitals, although we are aware of the different devices developed for the rescue of failed airways, they are rarely available in the emergency rooms. They are missing due to lack of financial resources or administrative dispositions. Digital Intubation is recognized as the first method used to perform a tracheal intubation, but it has also been used as a rescue technique for a failed airway and at the pre-hospital arena. This is why it is propose digital intubation to be considered as rescue technique to be applied in our emergency services when other devices are not available for this purpose and by the out-of-hospital care teams

Keywords : Endotracheal intubation; Digital intubation; Airway Management; Emergency Medicine; Colombia.

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