How did it make sense? Ep 17. Eoin Walker - The Airway Kit Got Vomited On During the Emergency Tracheotomy
When your airway kit gets vomited on mid-procedure, things get a whole lot harder—especially in a high-stakes, high-pressure medical emergency.
In today’s episode on How Did It Make Sense, I’m joined by Eoin Walker from the World Extreme Medicine Forum, and we’re diving into one of the toughest cases of his career—a failed airway intervention that turned into an emergency tracheotomy. The patient was critically burned, time was running out, and just as they were about to secure the airway, the kit got covered in vomit. In the moment, everything was chaotic—30 people watching, critical decisions being made in seconds, and an overwhelming pressure to perform. This is the kind of case that looks straightforward in hindsight, but in reality, was anything but.
But here’s where the real learning happens. We unpack the cognitive overload of working in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world, the hidden pressures behind decision-making, and why getting comfortable with failure is crucial in high-stakes environments. We also explore how paramedics and HEMS teams build mental models from rare, high-risk cases, and how interdisciplinary learning makes us all better under pressure. Whether you’re in healthcare, aviation, emergency response—or just fascinated by the human side of high-performance decision-making—this one’s for you.
Resources Recommended:
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
The Practice by Seth Godin
Make Brilliant Work by Rod Judkins
Connect with Eoin via LinkedIn or listen to one of his podcasts here
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