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Background: In patients with predictive features associated with easy direct laryngoscopy, videolaryngoscoy with the GlideScope has been shown to require less force when compared with Macintosh direct laryngoscopy.Objective: The aim of this study was to compare forces applied with Glidescope vs. Macintosh laryngoscopes in patients with predictive features associated with difficult direct laryngoscopy.Design: A randomised study.Setting: Toronto General Hospital, a university tertiary centre in Canada.Patients: Forty-four patients aged over 18 years, with one or more features of difficult intubation, undergoing elective surgery requiring single-lumen tracheal intubation.Intervention: We measured the force applied to oropharyngeal tissues by attaching three FlexiForce Sensors (A201-25) to the concave surface of Macintosh and GlideScope laryngoscope blades.Anaesthetists or experienced anaesthesia residents performed laryngoscopies with both devices in a randomised sequence.Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was peak force. The secondary outcomes were average force and impulse force. The latter is the integral of the force over the time during which the force acted.Results: Complete data were available for 40 individuals. Peak and average forces decreased with GlideScope (17 vs. 21 N, P = 0.03, and 6 vs. 11 N, P < 0.001, respectively). Laryngoscopy time increased with the GlideScope (30 vs. 18 s, P < 0.001), resulting in similar median impulse forces (206 vs. 175 N, P = 0.92).Conclusion: GlideScope laryngoscopy resulted in reduced peak and average forces, but as the laryngoscopy duration increased, the product of force and time (impulse force) was similar with both devices.Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01814176. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the Society for Airway Management (SAM), which as founded in 1995 to promote safe airway management through education, research, and the development of teaching resources. SAM partners the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) to serve as its advisor on matters pertaining to airway management. It holds an annual scientific meeting and workshop in September 2012.

Abstract: Study Objective: To determine the current trends in airway education in academic programs. Design: Survey instrument. Setting: American academic medical center. Subjects: 147 directors of American and Canadian anesthesiology residency programs. Measurements: An invitation to complete an online questionnaire was sent. Non-responding institutions were contacted repeatedly by email and telephone to ensure a reasonable response rate. Main Results: 88 of the 147 (60%) programs completed the survey. Forty-three respondents (49%) reported that they had formal airway rotations, and 39 respondents said that a designated titled faculty member was responsible for airway training. Didactic lecture and manikin instruction were used by more than two thirds of the programs. Documentation of supervised airway experience was recorded in 71 (82%) programs. The majority of the programs (81%) had videolaryngoscopes. A fiberoptic bronchoscope was nearly universally available, and approximately one third (34%) of graduating residents were estimated to have performed more than 25 awake fiberoptic intubations. For most techniques, the estimates of the required number of procedures to ensure competence varied widely. Conclusions: The number of programs with a formal airway management program continues to increase, and programs are incorporating newer intubation techniques. The criteria for competence have not been established. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]