Education News

First responders need hands-on experience with pediatric airway management, but the impact of a learner program in the operating room (OR) is unknown. We developed, implemented, and evaluated a pediatric airway "rotator" (PAR) program for 8 multidisciplinary groups to obtain this experience. This quality improvement pilot was conducted in the pediatric ORs from November 2017 to January 2018. We surveyed learner group leaders and anesthesia teachers about their PAR airway management expectations and developed a universal set of prerequisites, objectives, and simulation experiences. Airway management skills were assessed in a group of PARs at baseline. During implementation, another group of PARs completed prerequisites and reviewed objectives before coming to the OR for simu-lation using an infant mannequin. Then they entered the OR for "live" airway management. A comparison of preintervention and postintervention skills suggested an improvement in performance for most airway management domains except laryngeal mask airway insertion, which stayed about the same, and intubation, which decreased in the postintervention group. In the postassessment surveys, the PARs indicated that the interventions were helpful to their learning, and the anesthesia teachers' responses indicated that the primary goals to improve PARs' preparedness, airway management, and communication skills were achieved.