Gentlemen,
I’m looking for opinions on the use of the nasopharyngeal airway. In my fledgling military career, I have come across competing direction as to whether the NPA is really necessary in a combat environment.
Obviously the NPA is to be used for patients that are conscious, as he would be receiving an oropharyngeal airway if he were not (provided he did not suffer mandibular trauma or something of the like).
Traditional Big Army teaches the above, however I have run across a few dissenters. These individuals state that the NPA is unnecessary for patients that are conscious because they would obviously have a patent airway. The argument then usually evolves into the effectiveness of the OPA vs the NPA (OPA wins), and then the point that if aforementioned patient slips out of consciousness he would then receive the OPA.
Closing point: Inserting an NPA on a patient with a patent airway is an unnecessary waste of crucial seconds in a tactical environment.
As a young medic, I’m caught between following big Army doctrine and experience-based knowledge from my superiors. I’d like to see if this is a valid argument based on a variety of opinions from those much more experienced and schooled then I.
Thoughts?
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