In this editorial in the British Journal of Anaesthesia's Airway Management issue, Baker et al examine the challenges associated with fulfilling the "ethical obligation for all practitioners to keep up to date through lifelong learning" in airway management.
The editorial includes reference to an innovative e-learning program for airway management based around the Vortex Approach. This Difficult Airway Algorithm and Rescue Cricothyrotomy (DAARC) Program is to be trialled as a mandatory program in Veteran's Health Administration hospitals in the United States. The e-learning package includes an avatar based game in which clinicians make context dependent decisions about interventions to establish airway patency. Use of such a model has the potential to provide standardised and engaging airway education in a resource efficient manner.
The authors also raise some valid issues in relation to mandatory CICO training, in particular concerns that the emphasis on technical training in CICO Rescue could paradoxically lead to an increased incidence of CICO events by creating neglect of training in preventative techniques to optimise success at the upper airway lifelines.
Free full text of the article is available via the BJA website.