The Difficult Airway Course

[HMtoPA]

I may have an opportunity to attend the Difficult Airway Course next month. I'm pretty comfortable intubating with a GlideScope and an RT standing by, but am by no means an expert (I'm currently in an EM fellowship, and have probably done between 2 and 3 dozen intubations). Anyway, my question is for anyone who has done the above course - was it worth it? If it were funded, it would be a no brainer, as surely I'd glean a thing or two out of the 3 days - but it would be out-of-pocket, and it's quite expensive - $1200. Yikes. I hate to give up that kind of money (and a weekend!), and feel like it wasn't absolutely worth it. Thoughts?

One other wrinkle is that I think the course has several hours of pre-work requirements that I will have to do around the same time as pre-work for an FCCS course I'm already enrolled for. While also rotating through an inner-city ED that month. Not sure if that will be too much, or if it will all dovetail together nicely.

Edited August 18, 2021 by HMtoPA

[MediMike]

It's a great course to be honest.  Prior paramedic, been working ICU for around 6 years and I will likely attend it again simply to freshen up.  Big emphasis on the physiologic difficult airway which so many people forget and is a leading cause of perintubation arrest.  It's not just a matter of getting the tube in the hole. 

I'd hesitate to have anyone intubating in my unit without it if they haven't undergone prior formal airway training and strongly suggest even experienced airway managers use it. Worth the $$$ and time.  The precourse isn't bad at all.

Check out the Airway World podcasts if you have time, Calvin Brown out of Harvard is the main guy behind all of this, he does quarterly reviews of the literature.  Good stuff!

[EMEDPA]

I have taken both the ems course($350) and the EM Physician course ($1200). The advantage of the EM physician course is fiberoptics and nasal intubations over a scope. Recommend both. FCCS is good too. Mostly vent management. ALSO (the OB course), ABLS (burns) and APLS (the physician levels PALS course) are also excellent if you can get them in. 

[ohiovolffemtp]

I took the EMS version, don't remember the price but probably about what EMED said.  We did have a lot of fiber optic devices.  The focus on pre-intubation patient prep was very useful.  However, the limitation of the course I took was that it used the same intubation heads I'd been training with for years in EMS.  So, it really didn't provide all that much useful practice in hands-on management of the anatomic variations that can make visualize the proper anatomy and actually passing the tube difficult.

I'd be concerned that taking the airway course and FCCS at the same time would be too much and you wouldn't get the full learning from each.

[MediMike]

My wife is a huge airway nerd and is a site director for the EMS version of the DAC. She has teamed up with a gal who has access to those "cadavers in a semi" people, so plan will be to do the DAC training on hi fidelity manikins, then go on over to the creepy semi and utilize your skills.

And yeah, I wouldn't do FCCS at the same time. That's...a lot. I teach both classes and it would be a little overwhelming on top of clinical duties or at least you wouldn't get the best benefit of the classes.

[TeddyRucpin]

I took the EMS DAC twice; the most recent was funded via my hospital (hospital-based EMS); they also count as work days :) We also do an in-house RSI course. DAC is great.

[HMtoPA]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I think I will focus on FCCS (on top of my regular fellowship didactics and clinical duties) next month and save the $1200 for now. I can always do the DAC later, and hopefully get it funded through an employer.

[Randito]

Sorry to piggyback on this thread, but I'm wondering if the DAC too technical for somebody that is not managing airways regularly? I had a good amount of airway training in fellowship, but now I'm working at a large academic center with infinite residents and haven't intubated in almost 2 years. I would like to do some type of refresher course. Is this a good option? If not, any suggestions?

[MediMike]

@Randitoyou'd love it. They do a great job of rehashing basics along with advanced stuff.