Life Webinar | Airway Management in Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine
the chairs
4th Life Webinar
Airway Management in Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine
Airway control remains one of the most vital and high-stakes interventions in acute care, often determining outcomes within minutes. This session brings together clinicians from diverse acute care specialties, united by a common goal: ensuring safe and effective airway management in our most critically ill patients.
We are privileged to have with us distinguished faculty who will share their expertise, practical insights, and evidence-based strategies. The aim of this webinar is not only to discuss current best practices, but also to highlight evolving techniques, common challenges, and real-world solutions that can enhance patient safety in high-pressure settings.
It is our great pleasure to welcome you all to today's webinar on Airway Management in Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine. We encourage you to actively engage -- ask questions, share your experiences, and learn from each other. Together, we can strengthen our collective skills and confidence in managing the airway when it matters most.
Chairs:
Prof. Dr. Tonny Veenith
Dr. Prashant Nasa
Date: 30 September, 2025
Time: 1:00 p.m. BST
Webinar ID: 851 6137 3450
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet the Event Chairs
Meet Our Speakers
Prof. Dr. Tonny Veenith
Intensive Care and Acute Care Medicine, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK;
Professor Tonny Veenith MBBS, PhD (Cantab), MRCP, FRCA, EDIC, FFICM, is Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Wolverhampton and Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, and Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Anaesthesia and Perioperative Care at Birmingham City University. As Clinical Director of Research and National Training Lead for the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, and Macintosh Professor at the Royal College of Anaesthetists, he drives strategic initiatives in critical care education, capacity building, and policy across the UK.
An internationally recognised clinician-scientist, he has secured over £9 million in competitive grants and led landmark trials such as CATALYST and ERASER, with more than 155 peer-reviewed publications and an H-index of 36. His work spans neurocritical care, traumatic brain injury and critical illness, with outputs in leading journals including JAMA, NEJM and The Lancet. Passionate about mentoring the next generation, he supervises doctoral and postgraduate students, fostering innovation and excellence in medical education and patient care.
Areas of Interest:
- Neurocritical care and traumatic brain injury
- Subarachnoid haemorrhage and status epilepticus management
- Sepsis pathobiology, biomarkers and antibiotic stewardship
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia and acute respiratory failure
- COVID-19 critical illness and post-ICU rehabilitation
- Acute stroke intensive care and haemodynamic optimisation
- Neuroimaging, digital ICU monitoring and translational neurophysiology
- Regional and perioperative analgesia in trauma and enhanced recovery
- Clinical trial design, guideline authorship and implementation science
Prof. Dr. Denise Battaglini
University of Genoa, Italy
Policlinico San Martino Hospital, Genoa, Italy;
Denise Battaglini is a researcher and consultant in critical care, working at the university of Genoa. Her research interests encompass airway care, lung physiology, and pulmonary rehabilitation.
Prof. Dr. Jigeeshu Divatia
Department of Critical Care Medicine
Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, India;
Head, Critical Care, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai.
Former Professor and Head, Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
Past-President, Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists.
Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine.
Over 220 publications in national and international journals.
H-index 48.
Area of interest: Hemodynamics, Ventilation, Airway management, ICU organisation, end-of-life care.
Prof. Dr. Filippo Sanfilippo
University of Catania, Italy;
44 years old Consultant and Professor of Anesthesia and ICU at University of Catania.
Completed PhD in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology.
Worked for almost five years in very famous University Hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Author of over 215 publications.
Actively involved in the ESICM and SIAARTI Societies.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
Airway management is a crucial milestone in the care of critically ill patients, carrying both immediate and long-term implications for morbidity and mortality. The challenges faced in managing the airway of a sick patient differ significantly from those encountered in elective surgical settings, where physiological derangements and instability are the predominant concerns.
Prof. Divatia introduced the concept of the “Physiologically Difficult Airway”, exploring the evidence on challenges and outcomes of intubation in critically ill patients. He emphasized the importance of systematic assessment, meticulous preparation, optimization of oxygenation and haemodynamics, and attention to human factors before undertaking intubation in this high-risk group.
Prof. Veenith focused on the critical steps of endotracheal intubation and post-intubation management. He highlighted the importance of team planning and briefing, the need to “call for help” early, and adopting a patient-centric approach when selecting and dosing induction agents. He further discussed the emerging evidence supporting the use of fluids and vasopressors to mitigate haemodynamic compromise during intubation.
Prof. Battaglini presented the current evidence on the timing, patient-related considerations, technique, and post-procedural care of tracheostomy in critically ill patients. He emphasized that in patients with ARDS, the decision to perform a tracheostomy should be guided by disease severity and trajectory, with the priorities being optimal mechanical ventilation and post-tracheostomy management. Prof. Sanfilippo concluded the session with an innovative presentation on combining indirect laryngoscopy with fibre-optic bronchoscopy for managing anticipated difficult airways. He demonstrated the technique, discussed patient selection, and highlighted the advantages of this combined approach over conventional fibre-optic use in airway management.
The session provided an excellent overview of the evolving concepts, practical challenges, and multidisciplinary considerations in airway management for critically ill patients.
Chair: Dr. Prashant Nasa
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registation to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking "Subscribe" at the top of the page.
Airway Management in Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine
Edited by Dr. Prashant Nasa & Prof. Dr. Tonny Veenith
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025