Intubation Clinic

With the crazyness of my final week/start of spring break, I almost forgot to write about a really awesome Intubation Clinic that the CHM Emergency Medicine Interest Group put on. They invited one of the Emergency docs and about 10 of the Emergency Med residents to come teach a group of 30 of us how to do proper airway management/intubation. The clinic took about 2 hours and was split up into two parts. First, we were taught how to use proper airway adjuncts (Oropharynx Airways and Nasopharynx Airways). We were also taught how to use a BVM (Bag-Valve-Mask) to provide ventilations. Working as a CPR instructor for the last year, I can use a BVM with my eyes closed. Also, in my EMT class, we learned how to do oropharynx and nasopharynx airway adjuncts. So, this portion of the clinic was fun, but not something I hadn't learned yet.

Using an oropharynx airway adjunct

The second part of the clinic was much much cooler! We finally learned how to intubate! Let me tell you, intubation is MUCH harder than you would think. You start out by putting this massive metal light in a tiny little mouth; you have to use crazy arm strength to pry up the mouth, without cranking on the teeth; Finally, you have to make sure that you can crank back the mouth so much that you can slide a tube in the trachea, not the esophagus. It was quite hard at first. I intubated 5 times. My first and second attempts where big fat fails. After "breaking teeth" (aka hearing the mouth click to tell you that you are breaking teeth), I got the tube in, started ventilating and..........the stomach inflated. I intubated the esophagus, not the trachea....wrong. Then, on my third try, I finally saw the tracheal opening and count get the tube into the trachea! Success! It was so exciting.

Bobby intubating...I didn't get a picture of myself. 

It was such a great clinic! It was really fun to learn this skill and also really fun to work so closely with residents. It made me so excited for third year rotations and to learn actual skills that I will be using as a real physician!