Airway carts

[EMAirwayLuvr]

Hello fellow EM colleagues,

I am new to SDN and wanted to see if I could start my first thread and get some info from all of you. I am an attending at a new program in the south, and I have taken on the responsibility of revamping our airway carts. Currently we use a Mayo tray with a bundle of airway equipment wrapped in a blue autoclave paper. It's not the best setup. We have 5 large shock/trauma bays and each uses this setup. We unfortunately do not have the space to have true airway carts. We have large metal tables next to each bed where we can set something to organize the equipment better. I have seen everything from tackle boxes, to large heavy metal tool boxes, to Pegboards.

I just want to hear what works for you guys. Budget is not too restricted but I want to be reasonable. Lowe's has a nice 4 drawer metal tool box that has 3 small drawers up top, a top shelf for laying things out, and 3 large drawers at the bottom. I want something deep enough to line up ETT's in the first drawer to visualize them better. I'm just a firm believer that visualization and muscle memory allow for less flailing when the situation goes bad.

If you can send me a picture and description of what you use, I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance!

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[Apollyon]

I was going to say the toolbox, because it gives a third dimension to your current 2 dimensions. If you have the Mayo stand, and then put the toolbox on it, you now have several levels, instead of one. If you replace the Mayo stand with the aforementioned large tool chest with the drawers (which is what we have at my job), then you can lay out the tubes in order. Stuff used less frequently goes lower.

The toolbox, with a handle and several blades, a stylet, +/- a bougie, and induction meds, makes it portable and you bring it to the patient, with minimal risk of dropping anything.

I'll see about taking a picture of what we have/use tonight.

 

[Arcan57]

We had Mayo stands with Mac and Miller 3 and 4 blades, 6.0-8.0 ETT by half sizes, 2 nasal trumpets, medium and large oral airways, trach ties & an EtCO2 detector. The difficult airway equipment took a couple of forms over time. It started out as an airway cart that was wheeled into the bay from it's home, then became a backpack (which was a bear to search through), then a wheeled box with a tacklebox strapped to the top. This seemed to work the best, with the uncommonly used, heavier stuff (power supply for fiberoptic intubating NP scope, etc.) in the bottom.