Slam: Street Level Airway Management

To keep it short, I've sat for many boards and advanced certifications (both geared towards in-hosp/pre-hosp) and until finding this manual, I had to utilize several texts/review manuals as I found it difficult to find an evidence-based approach combined with a no-nonsense/fluff presentation.This text is very well organized, to the point and quite honestly, page by page in the proper order. It covers everything from basic A&P to applied pharmacology with options and explanations such as pediatric specific (not just peds dosage) to condition specific (ex: sedatives/hypnotics to benefit pt in septic shock vs combative situations combined with explanations as to WHY) down to color photos reviewing step by step procedures for different types of advanced airway techniques.On top of it all, you cannot EVER find all of this information ANYWHERE for under $200. If you have ever taken an advanced airway or difficult airway seminar, this will cover ALL of this and more. It is also printed using quality paper so yet again, it cannot be beat. I wish I had this in all of my past degrees!!To any physician, critical care/flight medicine provider or educator, combine this with a book on ventilator management and you will be a rockstar...

This book is a must-read for paramedics. I'm half way thru it and I have learned so much already. The Author gives tremendous detail explaining each of the concepts and techniques. It has helped me tremedously. The edition I'm reveiwing is 4 years old already. I'd like to see an update soon in a new edition.

When I attended my first SLAM course in 1999, I came out of it saying that I could "intubate Godzilla flying."Now, I had been a paramedic for some 18 years, and had intubated many patients, but there were always those difficult ones. SLAM takes those difficult patients and explains in detail how to approach them, assess and evaluate them, and successfully manage their airways.To be perfectly frank, after I went to my first SLAM seminar I asked Jim Rich, the major domo of SLAM, if I could become involved, and I became a SLAM instructor. As a lawyer, my interests cross over to the legal implications of airway management as well as the technical aspects. I wrote the chapter on legal aspects of airway managenent in this book, so I make full disclosure.This book is, in my mind, the definitive book on airway care. It has something for everyone. Whether you're a board certified anesthesiologist, a CRNA, a Paramedic, or a Respiratory Therapist, SLAM will give you the information you need to know to save lives.Besides showing effective ways to overcome difficult ventilation and rescue failed intubations, it gives every airway practitioner all the basic and advanced information needed to become a competent airway manager.The message of SLAM that makes the most difference is that patients die or suffer debillitating brain injury from failure to ventilate and failure to oxygenate--NOT failure to intubatre. SLAM enforces the concept that if your patient can't breathe--nothing else matters.I recommend the SLAM manual to every doctor, nurse, respiratory therapist, paramedic, or EMT who deals with patients with airway problems.William E. Gandy, JD, LP