Swivel connector
USE
- allow ventilation without gas leak during invasive bronchial procedures (e.g. fibreoptic bronchoscopy, suctioning with a catheter)
- provide improved flexibility, stability and comfort to the ventilation circuit
DESCRIPTION
- Range of brands (e.g. Bodai, VBM)
- disposable plastic
- right angled design
- ‘Double swivel’ capacity at attachments to circuit component (22 mm outer diameter over a 15 mm universal connector of an endotracheal /tracheostomy tube and into an airway connector via a 15 mm outer diameter connector attached to ventilator tubing)
- airway access port (self sealing or with removable/replaceable cap)
METHOD OF INSERTION/ USE
- pause the ventilator (to reduce respiratory droplets being blown into the air)
- insert the device into the ventilator circuit
- resume ventilation
- perform procedure via the access port
COMPLICATIONS
- Loss of PEEP when the circuit is broken
- some models have a cap that needs manually removing and replacing with the risks of aerosolisation of respiratory secretions (infection risk to others)
- extra resistance and dead space in the circuit
OTHER INFORMATION
- Standard ‘right angled’ connectors do not have an access port but have the same connections, providing flexibility of the ventilator circuit attachments to the endotracheal or tracheostomy tubes.
Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC