Advanced Airway Management Among Primary Care Health

BACKGROUND Out‐of‐hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) is one of the leading medicalemergencies worldwide, with an incidence in Europe of approximately 55 cases per 100,000inhabitants and an overall survival rate at hospital discharge of close to 8%. In Spain,the estimated incidence is around 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with survival ratesthat remain moderate and are influenced by delays in the initiation of resuscitation andby the quality of initial advanced life support.During Advanced Life Support (ALS), rapid and effective airway management is a criticalfactor in mitigating hypoxic brain injury. Although endotracheal intubation (ETI) hastraditionally been considered the gold standard, its performance in out‐of‐hospitalsettings by non‐anesthesiologists or practitioners with limited technical experience isassociated with significant rates of failure, repeated attempts, and prolongedinterruptions in chest compressions, which severely compromise coronary and cerebralperfusion. In this scenario, supraglottic devices (SGDs) have emerged as a priorityfirst‐line alternative that is safe and quick to insert, offering high success rates andminimizing pauses in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).Current recommendations prioritize techniques that ensure effective ventilation whileminimizing interruptions in chest compressions.However, evidence indicates that a significant proportion of healthcare professionalshave cognitive and competency deficits in the management of acute care. This situation isparticularly relevant in primary care, where acute events are infrequent andopportunities for practical training are limited, which accelerates the phenomenon ofskill decay.Assessing baseline knowledge is a fundamental step in identifying actual training needsand designing tailored educational interventions. However, there is little evidenceregarding the cognitive level of primary care professionals with respect to themanagement of DSG prior to receiving structured training‐a key starting point for guidingcompetency‐based programs and ensuring patient safety.For all these reasons, the primary objective of this study was to assess the baselinelevel of theoretical knowledge regarding the management of DSG among primary carehealthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) in the Castellón Department of Health.The following were set as secondary objectives: 1. Describe the sociodemographic, academic, and employment profiles of the staff beingevaluated. 2. Identify specific conceptual gaps and common errors in ALS procedures related to theuse of DSG. 3. Analyze the statistical association between sociodemographic and professionalvariables and the success rate on the knowledge questionnaire. 4. Assess professionals' self‐perceived competence and compare it with their objectivecognitive/theoretical performance.