BASIC REVIEW OF ENDOTRACHEAL INTUBATION FOR PROVIDERS AT A MASS CASUALTY

During a mass casualty scenario (whether manmade or natural disaster), healthcare providers could likely be overwhelmed by patients, many of whom would need airway support. In such a situation, medical personnel from a wide variety of backgrounds may be called upon to provide airway management. Such personnel could include emergency medical technicians, nurses, physician's assistants and physicians from all specialties. In our current practice, a similar mix of medical providers are being tasked with increased airway management to support conscious sedation delivery. Increasing demand for airway management skills requires more airway training for medical personnel who may be involved in disaster medicine or other 'out of operating room' care.

To support the growing airway training needs for medical providers, especially in the advent of a mass casualty situation, a virtual training platform was created in collaboration with the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, Medical Material and Research Command, US Army, the United States Army Chemical Care Casualty Division, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD and a consortium of universities. This project was funded by an unrestricted educational grant from Karl Storz Endoscopy America, Inc and from a grant from the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, Medical Material Research Command, US Army. Its goal is to gradually develop a comprehensive virtual training textbook to support personnel involved in medical disaster management and other out of operating room patient care requiring appropriate airway skills.

This web-based manuscript is intended to represent the initial training module in support of the collaborative airway management training project. A mannequin-based intubation training module followed by intubation experience in the operating room are meant to complete the full instructional package. The initial training module was designed with an emphasis on graphics. The web-based format will allow this teaching material to be shared among university and government partners who need to train personnel in airway management. Continual feedback is being obtained from our partners to allow improvement and updating. The intended audience for this training would include any student learning intubation, both medical and paramedical personnel.

Airway training for a wide range of healthcare providers will be a growing facet of civilian and military medicine in the future. The need for such training is being driven by increasing conscious sedation procedures and the potential for manmade mass casualty situations. Military need is driven by increased healthcare at far forward combat locations. This training is designed to support continually evolving educational needs for such airway management. The initial airway training module presented here as an electronic manuscript affords the ability to continually update the information based on changing educational needs and user feedback through the collaborative efforts of participating institutions. In the future, a full spectrum of shared, collaborative airway management training programs might be created using the proposed training paradigm.