Does an advanced life support course give non-anaesthetists adequate skills to manage an airway?

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, anaesthetists have provided airway management skills on resuscitation teams. Because advanced life support (ALS) courses teach practical airway management, some UK hospitals have dropped anaesthetists from cardiac arrest teams. Does the ALS course give non-anaesthetists adequate skills to manage an airway during a cardiac arrest?

METHODS

We recruited adult surgical patients undergoing general anaesthesia and laryngeal mask airway (LMA) insertion as part of their routine care. Patients were randomly assigned to airway management by a junior doctor; either an ALS-qualified anaesthetist or an ALS-qualified non-anaesthetist. After induction of anaesthesia, five manual ventilations were delivered using a self-inflating bag-mask device before insertion of a LMA. We recorded the quality of manual ventilation (adequate, partially adequate or inadequate), the time to LMA insertion, and any complications.

RESULTS

Twenty anaesthetists and 16 non-anaesthetist ALS graduates participated. Of the anaesthetists, 18 (90%) demonstrated adequate and 2 (10%) demonstrated partially adequate manual ventilation skills, compared with non-anaesthetists of whom 5 (31.25%) demonstrated adequate, 5 (31.25%) demonstrated partially adequate, and 6 (37.5%) demonstrated inadequate manual ventilation skills (p<0.001). Eighteen anaesthetists (90%) and 4 non-anaesthetists (25%) met the ALS LMA insertion guideline time of 30s (p<0.0001). Median time for LMA insertion by anaesthetists and non-anaesthetists was 20.5s (range 16-40s, n=20) and 35.0 s (range 18-168, n=10) respectively (p<0.05). Six of the 16 non-anaesthetists failed to insert the LMA (37.5%). There were four complications (laryngospasm, vomiting, and SaO(2)<90%) in the non-anaesthetic group (25% of patients), compared with none in the anaesthetic group (p=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The airway component of an ALS course alone does not give adequate practical skills for non-anaesthetists to manage an airway in an anaesthetised patient. Airway management at a cardiac arrest is unlikely to be any better.