Intervention
Thirty participants were sequentially allocated in blocks of 3 to the
biofeedback (n=10), nose analogy (n=10) and syringe (n=10) teaching
methods. Participants were provided with written instructions for their
allocated method (Figure 2) and afforded as much time as they deemed
necessary to practise the method.
For the biofeedback method, participants were able to directly read the
force values on the measuring scales when pressing on the airway model
and therefore used real-time feedback to apply the recommended cricoid
pressure force for “awake” and “anaesthetised” patients. For the
nose method, participants were not given access to the airway model.
They were given written instructions which advised that for
“anaesthetised” patients a pressure on the nose to cause significant
pain should be applied. Participants then practised pressing on their
own nose to feel the force required. There were no teaching instructions
given for “awake” patients, since this is not provided in the
literature[7]. The syringe method consisted of a 50ml closed syringe
enclosed in a wooden box with a 50ml syringe attached to the plunger
(Figure 3). Compression of the enclosed syringe to 38ml is reported to
be equivalent to the recommended pressure for “awake” patients and
compression of enclosed syringe to 30ml is reported to be equivalent to
the recommended pressure for “anaesthetised” patients[8].