Quantifying Intubation Forces on Incisors and Tongue Base Across Exposure Difficulty and Experience in a Simulator

Laryngoscopy simulators quantifying forces on critical structures in progressively challenging airways and operator expertise are lacking. We aimed to quantify laryngoscopy forces across expertise and exposure difficulty.

Prospective observational study Setting: Tertiary care medical center Methods: Force gauges were affixed to a difficult airway mannequin to quantify teeth and tongue forces across increasingly challenging airway exposure. Medical students (n=10), residents (n=11), and otolaryngology staff (n=10) performed direct laryngoscopy using a Miller size 3 laryngoscope with 1) normal neck/jaw mobility, 2) restricted neck extension, 3) restricted jaw opening, and 4) restricted neck/jaw mobility. Incisor and tongue pounds of force (lbf) were continuously measured.

As the difficulty setting increased, forces exerted by the students, residents, and staff on the incisors and tongue base increased (p=0.01). Between normal and maximally restricted settings, force delivered to the incisors increased by 6.95 lbf (standard error (SE) 1.29), 5.93 lbf (SE 0.98), and 5.94 lbf (SE 0.70) for the students, residents, and staff, respectively. At the tongue base, force increased by 0.37 lbf (SE 0.18), 0.46 lbf (SE 0.14), and 0.73 lbf (SE 0.15) for the students, residents, and staff, respectively. Esophageal intubations occurred in 50% of the students, 23% of the residents, and 45% of the otolaryngology staff at maximal difficulty, with none at the easiest setting (p=0.33). Compared to the residents, the staff applied significantly increased pressure on the tongue base during laryngoscopy (p=0.02).

Forces exerted on the incisors and tongue base varied across exposure difficulty and expertise levels, suggesting that they may be useful markers for training and competence assessment.