Aiwen Liu

Virginia Tech Carilion Clinic School of Medicine

"Cricothyroidotomy Workshop"
SAEMF Emergency Medicine Medical Student Interest Group Grant
$500

Abstract

The purpose of the Cricothyroidotomy Workshop is to expose medical students to an important and common procedure in emergency medicine. Airway management is one of the foundations of emergency medicine. Annually, rescue cricothyroidotomies are performed in 0.7% of adult patients1 and <1% of pediatric patients2. First and second year medical students often do not have opportunities to practice this airway management technique prior to starting rotations. The main goal of this workshop is for pre-clinical students to practice and be familiarized with this procedure. In this workshop, we will teach the anatomy of the thyroid, and discuss the three cricothyroidotomy techniques: needle, percutaneous (using the Seldinger technique), and surgical. Following a faculty demonstration of the surgical technique, students will have the opportunity to practice using a validated homemade trainer model3. 

Research Results

This grant was instrumental to providing early medical learners with a chance to learn an advanced procedure. It gave medical educators of all levels an opportunity to teach an advanced procedure to early learners.