The Ideal Airway Device for Emergencies

After 30 years in EMS, it’s only taken Larry Torrey, RN, EMT-P, and EMS coordinator and medical school faculty member at a Level 1 trauma center in the Boston area, a few months to change his tune on LMA® Airway Devices from Teleflex.

“I’m the guy that for 20 years has been telling EMS providers not to use the LMA Classic® Airway,” Torrey says. “However, I find myself in the interesting position now of saying this new device, the LMA Supreme Airway, I love. The LMA Classic Airway is a terrific device in the operating room—that’s where the device was designed and it’s intended for that population. What we’ve done in EMS so many times over the years, because it’s still a fledgling profession, is we have adopted devices, techniques and whatnot from in-hospital medicine and tried to adapt them for the field. We attempted to do that with the LMA Classic Airway and I don’t think that panned out very well. I think to Teleflex’s credit, they saw that, fixed the issues that make the LMA Classic Airway not as emergency medicine friendly, and created a device in the LMA Supreme Airway that is extremely emergency medicine friendly. The LMA Supreme Airway, I think now for the first time, brings a laryngeal mask airway to emergency medicine that is beneficial, quick, easy and highly effective.”

Torrey says the improvements incorporated into the design of the LMA Supreme Airway have made all the difference in its functionality in the field. In particular, he appreciates the change from a round tube to more of an oval shape, which stays in place better when inserted, helping to maintain a good seal during transport. He’s also a fan of how Teleflex modified the tip of the device, reinforcing it with a channel that allows providers to drop a 14 French gauge OG tube through the device, and making the tip more rigid. Teleflex has also incorporated a bite block about midshaft, where the teeth would be, by wrapping extra semi-soft plastic around the barrel of the device to prevent patients from biting through the tube.

“I was a naysayer,” Torrey adds. “I was the guy looking at it, rolling my eyes, saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen this before.’ But with the LMA Supreme Airway, they’ve changed my mind.”

Visit www.teleflex.com/EMS.

Larry Torrey is a paid educational consultant of Teleflex.