Re: EOA OR Combi-Tube

[Guest guest]

The EOA is not standard of care. Period. It does nothing to provide a

patient airway, nothing to protect the airway from secretions from the

nasopharynx and oropharynx, and you will not find a reputable airway expert

anywhere who

will testify for you if you become involved in a legal claim involving use of

the EOA/EGTA.

The Combitube, on the other hand, is clearly the better device as supported

by a huge mass of literature. It is specifically mentioned as one of the

acceptable and necessary secondary airway backup devices. EOA is not.

The Airway Training Institute, the premier airway training institution in the

U.S., which, by the way presents the Street Level Airway Management (SLAM)

course to the Indiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists annually, does not

endorse the EOA and in fact does not even mention it except in historical

footnote.

Complication rates for the esophageal obturator airway and endotracheal tube

in the prehospital setting.

Hankins DG, Carruthers N, Frascone RJ, Long LA, Campion BC.

Division of Emergency Medical Services, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. 55905.

Prehospital Disaster Med. 1993 Apr-Jun;8(2):117-21

This study concluded: " The complication rate for the EOA/EGTA is

unacceptably high, and careful thought must be given to its continued use. "

The EOA is, simply, unacceptable today.

E. (Gene) Gandy, JD, LP

HillGandy Associates

Emergency Medical Services Consultants

Albany, TX 76430

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> I work for a dept in Indiana and they use EOA over combi-tubes i was

> wondering which you would recommend and if there is any good case

> history about EOA and there problems, also they went from combi-

> tubes to EOA due to the failure rate of anyone able to get a combi-

> tube if there is someone out there that can help me so that i can

> get the combi-tube put back on the trucks or if you have any

> suggestions please let me know. 

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