Project Overview

Airway management via endotracheal intubation - insertion of a breathing tube into the trachea via the mouth or sometimes nose - is one of the most critical but also most difficult skills in modern medicine. Intubation is one of the more commonly performed life saving procedures that is employed in management of a diverse set of medical conditions, most commonly including: trauma, sepsis, respiratory failure (asthma, COPD, heart failure), in the field via EMS personnel, but also in more benign settings such induction of anesthesia for elective surgery.

Despite how common endotracheal intubation is, it is a high level skill that can be difficult to perform. Even when intubation is performed successfully, it can occasionally result in injury to the patient via chipped or damaged teeth or gums. If, for whatever reason, the clinician is unable to intubate the patient, the airway can fail, potentially resulting in hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels) and death.

Despite advances in technology, airway devices continue to require a clinician to visualize the patient’s trachea - either directly or through a video device - then navigate a tube into the trachea. This latter part can be made difficult due to either lack of skill on the part of the clinician, or difficult airway anatomy (examples: obesity, large tongue, significant facial trauma, swelling from anaphylaxis due to a bee sting, etc).

Our team aims to produce a device that delivers a tube using video laryngoscopy with controls that allows the clinician to adjust the orientation of the tube. Upon properly alignment of the aiming system, the clinician would be able to press and hold a button allowing for controlled delivery of the tube to the exact, desired location. The clinician would simply have to obtain the proper view, and the machine would deliver the tube.

Team Picture

Contact Information

Team Members

• Katherine Konsor - Team Leader
• Caroline Brumley - Communicator & BSAC
• Andrew Durette - BWIG
• Edwin Neumann - BPAG

Advisor and Client

• Mitchell Tyler - Advisor
• Dr. Christopher Vandivort - Client

Related Projects

• Spring 2019: Semi-automatic endotracheal intubation device
• Fall 2018: Semi-automatic endotracheal intubation device