Face Mask Ventilation

By Nicholas Chrimes

The gold standard for airway management in an arrest situation is endotracheal intubation on the first attempt, however this is not always possible due to operator and patient factors. In this setting face-mask ventilation can be a life saving backup plan to bridge attempts at intubation, prior to establishing a supraglottic airway or before progressing to surgical airway.

Dr Nicholas Chrimes (@NicholasChrimes) is an anaesthetist with an interest in unanticipated difficult airway management.

During this video presentation, he uses his knowledge and experience to discuss the different components of face mask ventilation. As he describes, for many junior doctors the experience of mask ventilating a patient is often following failed intubation. It is therefore likely to be in a deteriorating patient, with anatomical features that made intubation difficult also complicating mask ventilation.

The different components of face mask ventilation include 1) obtaining a seal and 2) maintaining a patent airway.

Although this may seem simple, there are a number of ways in which these 2 steps can fail and in this video you will see ways to recognise a failing circuit, quickly identify where the issue is and then promptly correct the issue. He covers the differences between bag-mask ventilation and the Mapleson circuit and how device feedback can be interpreted in clinical settings, in particular pre-oxygenation. He discusses techniques for obtaining a good airway seal and airway manipulation techniques for overcoming an obstructed airway. Finally, he demonstrate all the common errors people make with face-mask ventilation including the use of airway adjuncts and how to easily correct these to ensure stress free ventilation in a deteriorating patient!