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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

Laryngospasm

Light anaesthesia with a stimulus in or near the airway

Recognise it

  • Inspiratory stridor progressing to complete silence with vigorous, ineffective effort.
  • Tracheal tug and paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.
  • A flat capnograph trace with continuing respiratory effort.
  • Falling saturation, often quickly in a child.

The usual mistake

Escalating too slowly. A child desaturates far faster than an adult, and hypoxic bradycardia is the endpoint of hesitation.

On the cart

PropofolSuxamethonium

Do it in order

0/6

  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

  6. 6Hidden 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.