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07 / Anaesthesia · Crisis drills

Crisis drills

13 algorithms in 5 groups, hidden one step at a time. Decide your move, then reveal the algorithm’s: reading one is not the same as being able to run one.

Airway
Breathing
Circulation
Drugs and reactions
Neuraxial

Cannot intubate, cannot oxygenate

Failed intubation, failed supraglottic airway, failed face mask

Recognise it

  • Falling saturation with no effective ventilation by any route.
  • Three failed intubation attempts and a failed supraglottic device.
  • The room becoming quiet and fixated on repeating the same attempt.

The usual mistake

Task fixation on the larynx. Repeated laryngoscopy in a desaturating patient converts a difficult airway into an impossible one.

On the cart

RocuroniumSuxamethonium

Do it in order

0/5

  1. 1Hidden until you have committed

  2. 2Hidden until you have committed

  3. 3Hidden until you have committed

  4. 4Hidden until you have committed

  5. 5Hidden until you have committed

Decide your first move before you reveal it. Rehearsing the order is the whole point: in a real crisis the failure is jumping to step four.