Who teaches surgical airway management and how do they teach it? A survey of United States anesthesiology training programs

Study objective: To determine the methods used to teach surgical airway management to residents.

Design: Electronic mail survey instrument.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Participants: 82 (of a possible 132) United States residency program directors.

Measurements: Data including whether instruction in surgical airway management was provided, which methods were used, whether these teaching methods have changed since the subject was first examined, were recorded. The number of residents in each program represented by a respondent also was recorded.

Main results: The survey response rate was 62% (82 of 132). Seventy-two respondents (88%) reported that education in surgical airway management was part of their curriculum. Practice on a mannequin was the most common form of instruction (57%), followed by traditional didactic teaching (31%), a cadaver workshop or a large animal laboratory (29%), human patient simulator training (24%), and supply of subject-specific reading materials alone (3%). Forty-seven programs (65%) taught surgical airway management using a single method, whereas the remainder (35%) incorporated more than one approach. Training experience was dependent on the program size. The top one quarter of the programs in size (67 ± 10 residents) were more likely to use a multimodal approach (48%) and a cadaver workshop or large animal laboratory (38%).

Conclusions: The majority of anesthesiology training programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education provide some form of skill-based instruction in surgical airway management for their residents.