This video demonstrates how to insert an OP airway adjunct to an adult patient. A full video, showing how to size & insert the adjunct, along with information about relevant anatomy, is available on our YouTube channel. For more videos like this, stay tuned to www.article999.co.uk as well as the YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

This is the shorter version of the OPA video. For the long version, featuring the when, where and how of OP airway adjuncts, please click here.

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0:08 disclaimer

0:25 Seen this video before? Skip to the main content

0:33 Sizing the OPA

0:38 Inserting the OPA

1:01 References

 

Disclaimer

All of the content published by Article 999 follows reputable guidelines and are referenced. This video has not been endorsed by any organisation, author or ambulance trust. You must read the full disclaimer available at www.article999.co.uk/about/ (disclaimer tab) before putting into place anything you read or watch here. Please also remember to check your local guidelines before practicing any of these skills.

 

Transcript

Remember hand hygiene, bare below the elbows, and gloves in real life! (AACE, 2016)

Having opened the airway using manual airway manouvres and checking it is clear of obstruction, and having already selected the appropriate airway adjunct and size, now insert the adjunct back to front (Pilbery & Lethbridge, 2016) with the bendy part, named ‘the body’ (Beattie, 2005), curved towards the patient’s upper lip and nose. Once the adjunct has reached the soft palate, rotate it 180 degrees and advance it (Pilbery & Lethbridge, 2016). It should now rest in the pharynx (Pilbery & Lethbridge, 2016).

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References

Beattie, S. 2005. Placing an oropharnygeal airway, Available Online: http://www.modernmedicine.com/modern-… (Accessed 18/05/17)

Pilbery, R. and Lethbridge, K. 2016. Ambulance Care Practice, Bridgwater: Class Professional Publishing

 

Music:

Dobroide, 2010. 20091229.ambulance.siren.wav. Available Online: https://freesound.org/people/dobroide… (Accessed 21/08/17)

Productiontrax.com

 

Images:

Article 999’s own or licenses purchased via Adobe Stock & Dreamstime

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Final note.

Why is it so important to size the adjunct? Because ‘If the airway [device] is too long it may occlude the airway by […] displacing the epiglottis; if too short it will not separate the soft palate or tongue from the posterior wall of the pharnyx’

Gregory, P. & Mursell, I. 2010. ‘Airway management’ in Manual of Clinical Paramedic Procedures, Sussex: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 2-34

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