Difficult obstetric airway training: Current strategies, challenges and future innovations

Abstract Management of the difficult obstetric airway requires the use of appropriate medical knowledge, as well as timely technical and non-technical skills. In the training of these highly specialised skills, our learners are exposed to the challenges of high stress in optimising maternal and neonatal outcomes. Limitations and challenges persist for training for the difficult obstetric airway, including the decreased number of elective caesareans done under general anaesthesia, the high expectations of safety, the need for more inter-professional education of such scenarios and the modular residency training system resulting in short duration of exposure and lack of familiarity of location and equipment. In this review, we explored how our residents learned under these conditions and review current training strategies used. We used the cognitive load theory and complex skills training model to inform us of the gaps in our current training strategies, and analyse how future innovations could aid in the training.