Anaesthesia 2018 podcast | Should direct laryngoscopy be consigned to the history books?

 

The debate ‘Direct laryngoscopes should be consigned to history‘, hosted by The Royal College Of Anaesthetists at their annual general meeting, was carried out by our two guests on this piece.

Here we get into the advantages and challenges behind the two techniques; video laryngoscopy and direct laryngoscopy. The conversation explores the fact that these skills are a key part of the job of practitioners, are we “de-skilling” the profession in an overly enthusiastic race toward new technology or are some resisting it simply because it’s not what they are used to?

Presented by Joff Lacey and Monty Mythen with their two guests; Professor Tim Cook, Consultant in Anaesthesia and ICM, Royal United Hospitals, Bath and Dr William Harrop-Griffiths, St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Recorded by TopMed Talk

 

Dr Joff Lacey
St George's Hospital, London

Joff (Jonathan) Lacey is a registrar in anaesthesia at St George's Hospital in London, and is currently undertaking a fellowship in Perioperative medicine at UCLH

Professor Monty Mythen
Smiths Medical Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, University College London London, UK

Professor Monty Mythen is the Smiths Medical Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care at University College London and Adjunct Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, Duke University, US. Monty is also the founding Director of Evidence-Based Perioperative Medicine International.

Professor Tim Cook
Consultant in Anaesthesia and ICM, Royal United Hospitals, Bath

Professor Tim Cook is Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at Royal United Hospitals NHS Trust, Bath and Honorary Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Bristol. As the College Advisor on Airway and Director of National Audit Projects he has led two RCoA National Audit Projects (NAP3 on epidurals/spinal anaesthesia and NAP4 on airway management) shining a light on major aspects of anaesthetic practice and changing practice. He also played a role in NAP5 studying accidental awareness during general anaesthesia. Tim has an overall interest in improving safety and quality in anaesthesia and intensive care using a bottom up approach. He was awarded the RCoA Macintosh Professorship 2012-13, the Difficult Airway Society Professorship 2014, as well as several other prizes.

Dr William Harrop-Griffiths
Chair of the Royal College of Anaesthetists' Clinical Quality and Research Board

Qualified from Oxford and St Thomas’s Hospital, London in 1981, and then trained in anaesthesia in London and Seattle, US. Consultant Anaesthetist at St Mary’s Hospital since 1990. Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, London.

Passionate regional anaesthetist who is prepared to do obstetric and vascular anaesthesia when needs must. Enthusiastic public speaker whose lectures have been described as “a victory of style over content”. He takes this as a compliment.