Curriculum for Airway Skills in Critically Ill Adults: Protocol for a Delphi Evaluation (CASCADE)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2026

Publication Title

Indian J Crit Care Med

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Airway management is a commonly performed procedure in critically ill patients. In addition to anatomic challenges, these patients often have a physiologically difficult airway, which is associated with worse patient outcomes. Despite increasing awareness, specific teaching and training for physicians involved with airway management in these patients is poorly defined.

METHODS: The primary aim is to establish expert consensus on core competencies and curriculum elements for training physicians in physiologically difficult airway management in critically ill adults. The study will employ the Delphi methodology to generate insights from a diverse panel of international experts and trainees, selected based on predefined criteria. The study will address key domains such as scope, methods, elements, and assessment of teaching and training, as well as patient preparation and monitoring. The study findings will then be reported according to the accurate consensus reporting document (ACCORD) criteria. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06689748.

RESULTS: Consensus will be defined as ≥ 75% of votes for multiple-choice questions and Likert-scale statements. Stability will be assessed using the Chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis test. The statements that achieve consensus and stability in the Delphi process will be used to generate consensus statements.

CONCLUSION: The objective of this study is to establish a comprehensive training curriculum for physicians involved in airway management while concurrently identifying critical knowledge gaps within the field. The collective expertise of the panel will generate consensus statements during the Delphi process to delineate the essential educational requirements of physicians involved with the management of a physiologically difficult airway.

PubMed ID

42757345

Volume

30

Issue

8

First Page

628

Last Page

631

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