Ultrasound guided central venous cannulation by anesthesia trainee: need of the hour during covid pandemic

Covid pandemic has created deciency of doctors needed to administer skilled procedures in ICUs and operating rooms. Post graduate trainees need to acquire skills fast and perform it safely on patients. Ultrasound (USG)-guided central venous cannulation (CVC) is one such. The study aimed at nding the feasibility of training USG-guided CVC cannulation to anesthesia trainee as opposed to landmark method in terms of ease, speed and safety. Patients needing CVC were divided into 2 groups of 50 each, where Group 1 was subjected to Landmark method and Group 2 to USG-guided method. Continuous variables were compared using unpaired t test and categorical variables using either the Chi square test. Access time (in seconds) was signicantly less in the USG group (258.78 ± 11.17) as opposed to Landmark technique (301.60 ± 14.03) (p 0.03). Accidental carotid artery puncture was seen in 9 patients in Landmark group as opposed to none in the USG group. No patient in any group developed pneumothorax. USG-guided technique is superior and safer than the traditional landmark technique in hands of anaesthesia trainee in terms of a shorter access time, and less incidence of arterial puncture which is desirable in COVID patients to shorten the exposure time. USG-guided method needs an assistant to focus the probe. Nonetheless, this training should be imparted to the trainee to ll the gap created by skilled doctors falling sick during COVID pandemic.