Welcome to the era of universal airway management. Editorial in Anaesthesia in 2020 by Nicholas Chrimes, Andy Higgs & John Sakles exploring the need for an approach to airway management that can be consistently applied, independent of context, geography, provider or patient characteristics. The Vortex Approach is recognised as the first airway management resource specifically designed for this purpose.
Lost in Transition: the challenges of getting airway clinicians to move from the upper airway to the neck during an airway crisis. Special article in the British Journal of Anaesthesia in 2020 by Nicholas Chrimes, Andy Higgs and Adam Rehak discusses how many of the concepts of the Vortex Approach can facilitate transition to neck rescue when required.
Human factors and the ‘next generation’ airway trolley. Editorial in Anaesthesia in 2018 by Nicholas Chrimes, Pierre Bradley, Jon Gatward and Andrew Weatherall exploring the incorporation of human factors principles, such as those exhibited by the Vortex Airway Rescue Cart, into airway cart design.
Attempt XYZ: airway management at the opposite end of the alphabet. Editorial in Anaesthesia in 2018 by Nicholas Chrimes and Stuart Marshall discussing the potential benefits to effective airway management resulting from alternating attempts between different upper airway lifelines rather than exhausting sequential attempts at a single upper airway lifeline before attempting an alternative. The circular nature of the Vortex implementation tool is better able to depict this mode of practice than a linear algorithm.
Guidelines for the management of tracheal intubation in critically ill adults. This 2018 national guideline produced jointly by the Difficult Airway Society, Intensive Care Society, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Royal College of Anaesthetists, published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, incorporates the Vortex Approach.
Strategies for the prevention of airway complications - a narrative review. This 2017 article in Anaesthesia by Tim Cook includes discussion of the intuitive appeal of the Vortex Approach in focusing attention on key aspects of airway management while avoiding fixation or cognitive overload.
Critical airways, critical language. This 2017 editorial by Nicholas Chrimes and Tim Cook discusses the need for precisely defined, mutually understood, consistently used ‘critical language’ to facilitate team performance during airway management and includes reference to some of the key aspects of critical language used by the Vortex Approach.
The Vortex: a universal "high acuity implementation tool" for emergency airway management. Article in the British Journal of Anaesthesia in 2016 by Nicholas Chrimes describing the Vortex Approach.
Is it time for airway management education to be mandatory? Editorial in the British Journal of Anaesthesia in 2016 by Paul Baker, Jessica Feinleib and Ellen O’Sullivan which includes reference to an innovative e-learning program based around the Vortex Approach.
Transition from supraglottic to infraglottic rescue in the "can't intubate, can't oxygenate" (CICO) scenario. Report from the Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Airway Management Working Group that examines the evidence for the use low text graphic tools for use during crisis management and discusses the strengths of the Vortex as an implemenation tool.
Cognitive tool for dealing with unexpected difficult airway. Letter in the British Journal of Anaesthesia describing clinical use of the Vortex Approach.
Difficult Airway Society 2015 guidelines for management of unanticipated difficult intubation in adults. The 2015 DAS guidelines acknowledge the Vortex as a tool for 'real time' use during an airway emergency and explicitly state that, in contast, their own purpose is as a training tool to be used during the preparation rather than implementation phase of airway managment.
The Vortex: striving for simplicity, context independence and teamwork in an airway cognitive tool. Letter in the British Journal of Anaesthesia from Nicholas Chrimes outlining rationale behind the Vortex Approach.
Airway Management Roundtable: Seven Questions. Comment by William Rosenblatt in Anesthesiology News on the role of the Vortex Approach in facilitating transition to neck rescue.