Customer Reviews

The Airway Cam Guide to Intubation and Practical Emergency Airway Management

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Having first read Ron Walls "Manual of Emergency Airway Management," which I considered the benchmark against which airway management books were judged, I was stunned by the differences. Levitan's book is appropriately entitled "Practical Emergency Airway Management" precisely because it is rooted more firmly in reality and practice than theory. It reads less like stereo instructions and more like a well-constructed argument for his perspective on airway management.

Rich with color photographs, and beautifully printed, it's as close to a coffee-table intubation book as they come. The major utility of this text is its reliance on case-based vignettes that describe the step by step process for management of airway hell -- from self-inflicted GSW to traumatic disruptions of the airway. As a novice at airway management, I found his suggestions for increasing intubation successes to be vastly helpful in the way I work.

My major criticism of other airway management books is their narrow audience of emergency physicans. Levitan's text is applicable for anyone who will encounter a failing airway in any setting: RTs, paramedics, PAs, as well as physicans in the emergency setting.

The exceptional photographs, clear and cogent writing style, and applicability of the text has made this the standard of airway management books as I see it.

Straightforward instructions and descriptions of procedures with excellent accompanying photographs of cord visualization and how to maximize. Cool sections that cover procedures like cricothyrotomy using a Melker kit, retrograde intubation, direct tracheal intubation w/trauma, using a glidescope... Great to have it all in the same book.

This book should be read by those individuals who are responsible for intubations. It is especially useful and beneficial to read this after one has been performing intubations for a few months. Dr. Levitan goes over RSI's pros & cons, as well as airway assessments for those in emergent situations. This is in contrast to most of the current literature out there which focuses on elective surgical procedures and thus intubations in non-emergent settings. Again, if you perform intubations in emergency settings, this book can only help you think of things a little differently and make you better. Then try to get the DVD of Dr. Levitan's intubations. I have not seen it, but I've heard it is an extremely beneficial tool.
Ryan Dale