How Fast Should an Emergency Tracheostomy Take?

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net When faced with an emergency airway situation, a surgical airway may be required in order to save a person's life. Such surgical airways include emergency tracheostomy or cricothyroidotomy. The main question here is how quickly should such a procedure take in order for it to be considered a success? Clearly, it should take less than 4 minutes given that is how long a brain can survive without oxygen before permanent damage sets in…

2/04/2016 0

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JCAHO Mandates Time-Out for Emergency Tracheostomy

Due to confusion from readers, please note that this is a work of satirical fiction . Washington DC August 31, 2014 - Effective September 1, 2014, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has mandated that time-outs must be performed prior to emergency tracheostomy due to any reason, no exceptions. Due to numerous incidences of "never" events and lack of consistent acquisition of consent prior to emergency tracheostomy to treat catastrophic airway…

8/31/2014 0

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Keychain Emergency Airway Device (Video)

Health professionals who know how to perform cricothyroidotomy to obtain an emergency airway in someone who is obstructing can appreciate a nifty keychain device called LifeStat . LifeStat can be carried around and immediately utilized to perform emergency cricothyroidotomy in any setting. Watch a video here to see how it works. It can be purchase from Shippert Medical for $145 here . Reference: Utilization of the LifeStat emergency airway device . Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2008 Ja…

9/10/2011 0

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Best Ballpoint Pen for Emergency Cricothyroidotomy?

I recently blogged about a man who choked to death on an airplane and the impossibility of saving this man's life with a surgical airway like a cricothyroidotomy without a sharp object around inside the plane (ie, knife or scalpel). I also stated that "Some surgeons would argue a strong, stiff ball-point pen could have been used to perform the cricothyroidotomy, but as someone who has performed a dozen emergency cricothyroidotomies and tracheotomies in the past, even under the b…

9/05/2011 0

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