SureCRIC is intended to be used as an accessory to cricothyrotomy and tracheotomy devices, helping to identify and stabilize anatomical landmarks for establishing an airway. Cricothyroid membrane identification accuracy has been reported to be 30-62% in the literature \[Bai15, Ell10, Kri15, Lam15\]. The current study assesses SureCRIC-assisted medic performance in identifying the cricothyroid membrane in a diverse standardized patient population.
The study is a two-arm, open-label study involving users - largely licensed paramedics or combat medics - identifying the cricothyroid membranes on healthy volunteers. The Control Group will perform cricothyroid membrane identification on healthy male and female volunteers of varying heights, weights, and BMI's with the standard, freehand approach. The Experimental Group will perform cricothyroid membrane identification on the volunteers with the help of the SureCRIC. An expert verifier (senior otolaryngologist) will verify correct cricothyroid membrane identification and will not be blinded in order to reduce any error that may be introduced by SureCRIC removal and subsequent skin movement. The primary endpoint is a pass/fail assessment for cricothyroid membrane identification. The main secondary endpoint is time to cricothyroid membrane identification. The study design was recommended by FDA. The study, per FDA guidance, is not designed for statistical comparisons and only descriptive statistics are provided.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
18
National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare
Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States
Number of Paramedics/Combat Medics Who Accurately Identified the Cricothyroid Membrane on Standardized Patients of Different Sizes
pass/fail assessment for CTM identification as gauged by expert (senior orolaryngologist)
Time frame: 1 day
Time to Cricothyroid Membrane Identification
time to cricothyroid membrane identification as measured by direct observation
Time frame: 1 day
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