Historically, ETI has been a pillar in airway management for paramedics. These more advanced techniques include the use of SGAs, endotracheal intubation (ETI), or cricothyrotomy. SGAĪirway interventions can include basic positioning, suctioning, application of oxygen, bag valve mask utilization with/without adjuncts including oral and nasal airways and positive pressure ventilation with more advanced techniques.

It’s About Paramedic Intubation Skill Maintenance, Not ETI vs.Optimal Prehospital Airway Management Depends on EMS System Efficiency.Can the i-gel® Make a Difference in Patient Survival? Advanced Airway Choice in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.One large retrospective study identified 11.9% of EMS calls pertain to patients in respiratory distress and between 20-30% of patients require some form of airway intervention. Maintaining a patent airway prior to hospital arrival is one of the few life sustaining interventions that can be applied to all patient interactions. BackgroundĪirway management in the prehospital setting is a cornerstone of patient care for all level of EMS providers.

Given the sheer volume of products on the market, we have selected a representative cohort for review in this article, but it does not represent all available devices. This article serves to provide a comprehensive overview of many of the current SGAs available on the market to allow an EMS system to review and possibly adopt into their system. It is the wide and varied options for an SGA that have necessitated this evaluation as we hope to provide guidance to EMS agencies in choosing a device for their service. However, over the past decade, there have been many other SGAs, particularly iterations of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), that have come to market. As a “blind” airway device, the King Airway has largely replaced the Combitube as the civilian and military SGA of choice due to its design and ease of use. Advanced airway management in EMS systems around the country ranges from surgical airways to laryngoscopy, either video or direct, to the use of a supraglottic airway (SGA) device.

Qblocker chrome