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Welcome from Chandy Verghese, MBBS, FRCA
 The Society for Airway Management (SAM) is a subspecialty organization established
to promote both scientific advances as well as improve the current and future
practice of safe airway management with research, education and instruction of
airway skills and devices. We have been established for 12 years and our membership
continues to increase. SAM encourages and welcomes participation by all medical
personnel involved in airway management and our membership reflects this mixture
of professionals from various specialties involved in airway care. SAM hosts an
annual meeting, has an active website, and a SAM-forum in which members participate
in ‘cutting edge’ discussions on the many aspects of safe airway management. An
exchange of speakers to the annual meeting of SAM and the Difficult Airway Society,
UK (DAS), has been in place over the past 5 years, and forms an important link
between these two Societies and a stimulating exchange of ideas and practices.
The nominated SAM speaker to DAS, this year is Dr Allan Klock (President-Elect,
SAM). The Society is very fortunate to have members who are eminent specialists in
airway management, inventors of current airway devices, and consultants to the
ASA Task Force on Difficult Airway Management and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. We
also have members from over 34 countries and hope to continue to expand our activities.
Last year, under the stewardship of Professor Carin Hagberg, the Society initiated two annual research grants to investigators performing research on airway related topics. Applications could be made ‘on-line’ at the SAM website. Additionally, SAM will sponsor an international physician from a developing country to attend the annual SAM meeting at no cost, as well as attend an academic institution in the USA or Europe either before or after the annual meeting. The selected candidate will also receive 3 years of free membership. There has been an ‘explosion’ of supraglottic airway devices, video-laryngoscopes
and other devices intended to simplify airway management, simplify tracheal intubation
and to overcome the ‘difficult airway’. I hope that with your support all of us,
in SAM, will contribute to the assessment of these new devices and formulate a
pragmatic approach to their strengths, weaknesses and clinical importance. This
would allow us to prioritize our training and research and will be of great benefit
to our current and future members of our society.
If you wish to share your expertise or knowledge by serving on one of our many
committees, please do let me know. The strength of SAM is with you, and with your
help and support I look forward to the next year.
Chandy Verghese MBBS, FRCA Tel: +44 322
7065 or +44 118 9310234
SAM President 2007-2008 Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Fax: +44 118 975 3075
Department of Anaesthesia Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust e-mail: chandy.verghese@virgin.net Reading, Berkshire RG1 5AN UK Welcome from Carin Hagberg, MD
 The Society of Airway Management (SAM) is a subspecialty organization whose mission
is to promote the scientific advancement and practice of airway management by
encouraging research, education, and instruction of airway skills and devices.
SAM is an active society and functions as a year-round resource for its members
and the medical community in general. It is your continuous support and participation
that is making SAM an exciting, growth-oriented organization. The practice of airway management has seemingly become more complex with time,
as evidenced by the introduction of a member of new airway devices. Clinicians
involved in airway management have an enormous selection of resources to choose
from. The various supraglottic airways have revolutionized surgery and videolaryngoscopy
may do the same for both inpatient and outpatient surgery.
SAM offers many resources that promote safe and effective clinical airway management
practiced by the various medical specialties involved. The Annual Meeting, the
SAM website, the SAM-forum and the Airway Gazette all provide very useful information
to clinicians eager to learn more. Members of our society serve as expert consultants
to the ASA’s Task Force on Difficult Airway Management and Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Additionally, there are currently two active consensus panels working on forming
a consensus opinion on important issues of airway management, including “Extubation
of the Difficult Airway” and “Should Bag Mask Ventilation be Performed During
the Application of Cricoid Pressure?”
Presently, SAM has grown to include over 400 members from 34 countries. With
your continued support, we can accomplish much more in 2007. Thanks for continuing
to be an important part of SAM. I am looking forward to another great year! If
anyone is interested in becoming more active in SAM, possibly by serving on one
of our several committees, I would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Carin Hagberg, MD SAM President 2006-2007 Welcome from Will Rosenblatt, MD
Dear new SAM member: Welcome to the Society for Airway Management. SAM is an international group of
the finest teachers, investigators and clinicians in the arena of airway management
and science! We are in our 10th year, and a time of great change and importance
for the Society. Though SAM has been known for its extraordinary annual meeting,
the Society is moving to be a year-round resource for its members and the medical
community in general.
Apart from attending our annual meeting (and enjoying member discounts for lecture
and workshop registration) there are other ways you can benefit and participate
in SAM:
Sincerely,
William Rosenblatt, MD
SAM President 2005-2006 Welcome from John Doyle, MD
 Few areas in medicine have advanced as quickly and dramatically in the last few
decades as clinical airway management. A mere 3 decades ago tracheal intubation
by direct laryngoscopy, blind nasal intubation, and possibly surgical methods
were the most one could reasonably expect from a clinician experienced in airway
management. Fiberoptic intubation, the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), the Bullard
laryngoscope, the GlideScope and even the concept of airway management algorithms
were all unavailable in those days. Indeed, a mere 75 years ago, around the time
of the Great Depression, airway management during general anesthesia consisted
primarily of maintaining spontaneous ventilation with the aid of careful head
positioning and the use of oropharyngeal airways, although also available were
tongue forceps designed to pull the tongue out of an obstructing position. Endotracheal
intubation was rarely performed in those days, and positive-pressure ventilation
was an exotic technology still in its early experimental phase. Clinical problem
solving for the common airway problems were based almost entirely on ad-hoc methods.
Now clinicians interested in airway management have an enormous selection of resources to choose from. Almost every imaginable form of laryngoscope is available to those with the funds to secure them. The various forms of LMA have practically revolutionized outpatient surgery. Countless books, CD-ROMs, videos and Web pages are available to clinicians eager to learn more. In this spirit, the Society for Airway Management is eager to be another valuable
resource concerned with promoting effective and safe clinical airway management
as practiced by the various medical specialties involved. This includes classical
topics such as laryngoscopy and intubation, prevention of aspiration, positive
pressure ventilation, as well as more recent developments such as supraglottic
airway devices, and methods of awake intubation. Emphasis is also placed on understanding
the various airway management algorithms for the management of expected and unexpected
airway difficulties, such as that developed by the American Society of Anesthesiology.
It is my sincere hope that this Web resource is highly effective in promoting
the cause of clinical airway management.
D. John Doyle MD PhD FRCPC SAM President 2004-2005
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