Table 1. Emergency airway management for the rural physician: keeping things simple
|
| Have an organized "game plan." |
| Remain calm yourself. |
| The first priority is always, always, proper head position and ventilation. |
| Call for help early. |
| If you can't ventilate the patient properly with a bag-mask: intubate. |
| Keep track of time. |
| If your first intubation attempt fails, try a second time, but think about what you can do differently the second time around. |
| If you can't intubate: ventilate. |
| If you can't ventilate and can't intubate: open the neck. |
| Practise, practise, whenever you can. |
