(048) Assessing Utility of a Medical School Emergency Airway Management Course

Introduction: It is important to introduce medical students to emergency airway management early in the undergraduate medical curriculum, especially for those interested in otolaryngology. Our goal was to develop a hands-on introductory emergency airway management course to familiarize students with clinical airway anatomy and physiology (A&P), the indications for use of different modalities of airway management, and a review of endotracheal and surgical airway procedures.

Methods: A two-hour multidisciplinary airway management course, developed by an otolaryngologist and medical student, was hosted in October 2022. Medical students covered the A&P of airways, and management techniques including bag valve mask ventilation, endotracheal intubation, tracheotomy, and cricothyrotomy. Faculty co-facilitated with perspectives and practices of emergency medicine and anesthesiology. Participants completed questionnaires pre and post-course.

Results: Of 136 participants, 72 completed an anonymous pre and post-course survey, 96% (N=69) of respondents were 1st or 2nd year students. Most were novices, 89% (N=64) reported never having managed airways. Confidence in students’ knowledge and attitudes on airway management was reported using a Likert scale from 1 to 5, pre and post-course data was analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Reported confidence in airway A&P rose from a median of 3 to 4 (p < .001, 1=Beginner, 5=Expert). Reported familiarity with techniques and indications for airway management also rose from a median of 2 to 4 (p < .001, 1=unfamiliar, 5=well-versed). Reported confidence levels for preparedness to manage airways rose from a median of 1 to 3 (p < .001, 1=Unprepared, 5=Extremely Prepared). 100% of students felt that the course should be implemented into the medical school curriculum.

Conclusions: Introducing medical students to a multidisciplinary emergency airway management course significantly increased students’ confidence in their knowledge about airway A&P, indications for various management modalities, and boosted their confidence levels in their ability to manage an emergent airway.