Dissertation
Improving staff airway emergency readiness in non-operating room anesthesia
Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.), Drexel University
16 Mar 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011369
Abstract
Anesthesia administered outside of a conventional operating room is called non-operating room anesthesia. Multidisciplinary teams are commonly involved in these areas, some of which do not have experience handling airway emergencies. During emergencies, a lack of skill or confidence may delay important interventions, increase patient risk, and compromise outcomes. Therefore, airway readiness among anesthesia and non-anesthesia staff is crucial for preventing airway obstruction from progressing to an airway emergency in a non-operating room environment (Hardman & Karamchandani, 2023). A local outpatient Interventional Radiology one-bed suite noticed a gap in skilled readiness in non-anesthesia medical personnel. This DNP quality improvement project used a multimodal design to improve readiness in airway emergencies. Four Radiology Technologists participated in a four-week simulation project. First, the radiology technologists participated in a baseline simulation exercise of airway adjunct retrieval. The group then watched an American Heart Association Airway video, followed by a didactic and hands-on exercise. The simulations were repeated post-education, and weekly for four weeks, with retrieval times recorded. The data collected revealed a 77% decrease in oropharyngeal airway retrieval time from pre-video/didactic week 1 to week 4. There was also a 36% decrease in nasopharyngeal airway retrieval time from pre-video/didactic week 1 to week 4. This work offers a practical approach to improve readiness and enhance interprofessional collaboration in any non-operating room anesthesia setting. Keywords: Airway Management, education, Nasopharyngeal Airway (NPA), non-operating room anesthesia (NORA), Oropharyngeal Airway (OPA), readiness, simulation training
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Details
- Title
- Improving staff airway emergency readiness in non-operating room anesthesia
- Creators
- Gloria Barbera - Drexel University, Doctoral Nursing
- Contributors
- Barbara Ruth Osborne (DNP Chair) - Drexel University, Nurse Practitioner Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- 50 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Doctoral Nursing; Nursing (Graduate); College of Nursing and Health Professions; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022182272304721