A survey of physicians’ appreciation and knowledge about airway safety measures in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The implementation of safety measures during airway management is a major concern to prevent COVID-19 transmission during pandemic. Various guidelines and advisories are in vogue to ensure safe practices. However, their success depends on the caregivers’ knowledge and understanding. This survey was conducted to assess the knowledge and safety concerns amongst physicians towards airway management in the background of COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survey instrument of thirty questions covering three timelines of airway management viz. ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ airway intervention was created. The questionnaire was electronically mailed to the eligible physicians over a period of one month via a web-based platform and the responses were analyzed. The responses were depicted numerically as percentage. A multiple discriminant analysis was used to test the accuracy of responses after adjusting for common variables. RESULTS: Out of 407 responses, 300 were eligible for analysis. The respondents with correct answers to questions with single correct response were 46%, 69% and 57.3%, along the three timelines and the respondents with more than 75% correct responses in questions with multiple correct responses were 49%, 58% and 31% along the same timelines. About 75% of the participants became aware of transmission through aerosols aftermath pandemic. About two-third of the participants had knowledge about the safety guidelines and recommendations. Majority of the respondents were aware of the safety measures ‘during airway intervention’. CONCLUSION: Our study found satisfactory knowledge and appreciable concern among the practicing physicians regarding airway safety measures in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. However, more physicians were aware about the measures required to be adopted ‘during’ airway intervention. The survey highlights the need for a more focused training of the caregivers about safety measures ‘before’ and ‘after’ airway intervention.