Florida Paramedics Try Out New Airway Tube

[JJR512]

Florida Paramedics Try Out New Airway Tube

DELTONA -- Time is life.

So when first responders treat patients who can't breathe, they want the fastest way to push precious oxygen into their lungs.

The traditional method of inserting a shoehorn-looking laryngoscope into the mouth and inserting a tube down the throat, familiar to most TV medical show fans, is still in use. However, some emergency medical crews in Volusia County are trying out a new device that could cut treatment time by more than a minute.

Crews with EVAC ambulance, Deltona and Port Orange fire/rescue departments began a three-month trial evaluation last week of King Systems airway devices. Research elsewhere has found the devices to be faster, simpler to use and less intrusive to the patient, said Dr. Peter Springer, Volusia County medical director...

Complete article at http://www.emsresponder.com/web/onl...da-Paramedics-Try-Out-New-Airway-Tube-/1$6931

 

[Flight-LP]

Yawn............

Every couple of years we see something new out on the market that is supposed to be the latest and greatest airway device. The King airway is no different. It is a nice rescue or back up airway, but fails to provide a definitive secure airway. It is not an endotracheal tube being visualized as it passes throught the cords into the trachea. Direct tracheal intubation is THE ONLY method of truly securing an airway. This article is nothing more than....

1. An advertising campaign

2. An EMS agencies that are taking a step back and trying to cut corners to make something simpler for their crews.

The one precious minute that is saved is irrelevant if you are appropriately ventilating your patient with a BVM. I really do not understand why we have to keep reinventing the wheel, instead we should continue to maintain our "wheels" and focus on bring up the proficiency level to where we aren' looked upon as incapable providers. But alas, that is a recurrent arguement and I'm too tired to fight it right now.........

Have a safe day!

 

[VentMedic]

<Sigh>

Repeat previous post by Flight-LP.

 

[JPINFV]

2. An EMS agencies that are taking a step back and trying to cut corners to make something simpler for their crews.

That's because it's in the best interest of the EMS agency.

With the King airway the agency can:

1. Advertise that they have more "toys" to play with.
2. Decrease training time since now by making ETI less important/removing it.
3. Pay less money since they can justify hiring less skilled individuals.

Or, they can:

1. Increase training time to ensure proficiency with ETI.
2. Pay more to attract higher skilled individuals.


This falls in line with the rest of EMS being about the provider and not the patient. If it was about the patient, then we wouldn't have 120 hour providers and 9 month "super providers."

 

[reaper]

We have them on the trucks for a backup airway (in place of the combitube).

They are better backups. They are nice to have for some of us that aren't gods and can't get every ETI perfect on the first shot! (cough cough)