Airway Management

This comprehensive and practical guide addresses the various problems of airway management from every perspective: Assessment, management, and treatment techniques are examined for the pre-hospital period, and for use in the emergency room, the operating room, and the intensive care unit. Anatomy, physiology, and assessment are discussed, providing a solid foundation of knowledge on which to build clinical skills. Other areas of interest include basic airway techniques, equipment and inherent pitfalls; and pharmacology -- with guidance on non-opiate intravenous and inhalational anesthetic agents, neuromuscular blocking agents, and opiates. The most current guidance available is offered for advanced techniques, including the laryngeal mask airway and perioperative bronchoscopy. Concluding chapters provide groundbreaking information and insight for special areas of interest, including: pediatric airway management, obstetric airway management, airway management of the patient with cervical spine injury and disease, airway management of the head injured patient, blunt trauma to the major airways, the asthmatic patient requiring anesthesia, lasers and shared airways, surgical techniques in airway intervention, emergency airway management on the ward, and essential aspects of transport ventilators. Pre-hospital strategies are presented throughout the text, and extensive coverage is provided for clinical topics, including trauma, pediatrics, cardiac arrest and more. Hundreds of photographic illustrations, tables, and drug dosage charts make it easy for the user to quickly find necessary information. The abundance of reliable and clearly presented information in this single volume makes this hands-on reference a must for every practicing physician, resident, student, paramedic, emergency and critical care nurse, and respiratory therapist.