Improving airway management and tracheostomy care through interprofessional collaboration: aligning timing, technique, and teamwork

[摘要] Tracheostomy is one of the oldest procedures in medicine, and vestiges of its long history can be traced back over 3,500 years to records in the ancient scrolls of Egypt and Vedic Sanskrit hymns of India. Legend has it that in the Hellenistic era, Alexander the Great used the tip of his sword to open the trachea of a choking soldier (1). Such depictions capture the role of tracheotomy as a heroic procedure reserved for life-threatening asphyxia or upper airway obstruction. Over the course of millenia, the indication and approach for tracheostomy have evolved to encompass a growing number of conditions, and the most common indications for tracheotomy now relate to respiratory failure and ventilatory support.

[学科分类] 呼吸医学