BMJ  2006;333:1295-1296 (23 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39015.726690.47

Anaesthesia

Time to stop sniffing the air: snapshot survey

Chris Johnson, consultant anaesthetist, Neville W Goodman, consultant anaesthetist

1 Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB

Correspondence to: N W Goodman nev.w.goodman{at}bris.ac.uk

Objective To determine whether the phrase "sniffing the morning air" is useful in positioning patients for tracheal intubation.

Design Snapshot survey.

Setting Teaching hospital.

Participants 21 anaesthetists.

Main outcome measures Angles of neck, line of sight, and hip to shoulder, as measured on a photograph.

Results Angles ranged widely, especially line of sight: 7°-37° with horizontal.

Conclusions As patients are positioned supine, rather than standing, the phrase is unhelpful; an explicit description of head position would be better.


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Stop sniffing, start ramping
Andrew K Bacon
bmj.com, 31 Dec 2006 [Full text]

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