The 3-3-2 rule. A pratical tool for predicting the difficult airway on the field

31 May

3_3_2_ruleThe 3-3-2 rule is part of the evaluation in a patient for a predicted difficult airway. This evaluation can be done on an unconscious patient in supine position and is reliable tool for the anticipation of a difficult BVM ventilation and intubation out of the hospital.

In the video you can see the 3-3-2- rule application on a patient with a predicted difficult airway. .

This patient was difficult to BVM ventilate (cause of the “sloopy” chin) and was intubated in VL with the aid of a bougie.
In this case the predicted difficulty of the airway, determined the choice of VL bougie aided intubation as first choice for the airway management, avoiding so multiple attempts. This choice was of more importance view the difficulty of BVM ventilation that would have conducted to a critical desaturation during the intubation attempts.

The invasive airway management is a critical skill in out of hospital emergency medicine and, when indicated, not avoidable. Predicting in advance the difficulty is important to choose the right plan and avoiding multiple attempts.

View in Prezi.com

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One Response to “The 3-3-2 rule. A pratical tool for predicting the difficult airway on the field”

  1. newton's avatar
    newton 5 June 2015 at 10:13 AM #

    Quite informative piece of article
    Newton @Kenyatta University School of medicine

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