This book and the course for which it is the manual are very important developments in acute patient care. Compromise of the airway or ventilation is the most urgent of all emergencies, requiring a prompt and skilled response. Being able to recognize such compromise, knowing how and when to intervene and possessing the expertise safely to do so, form a potentially life-saving combination.

Fully trained anaesthetists possess this combination, but patients with airway or ventilation problems are frequently seen by doctors who are not trained anaesthetists. It is imperative that these doctors can recognize the problem and initiate an appropriate and safe response. This book and its accompanying course are therefore designed principally for anaesthetists in the early stages of their training, and for emergency and acute physicians.

Neither this book nor the accompanying course can, by themselves, impart sufficient knowledge and skills for participants to safely manage all aspects of airway care. Both the book and the course are at pains to emphasize this. Instead they emphasize a structured approach to the problems of establishing, managing and stabilizing the airway, an excellent decision-making process, and an introduction to basic and more advanced skills in the management of the airway and ventilation. Specific chapters address key issues such as airway assessment, oxygen therapy, basic airway management techniques and indications for intubation. Rapid sequence induction, how to deal with difficult or failed intubation and post-intubation management during transfer are also all discussed in detail.