In the News
Follow our channels
McMurray in "People on the Move"
Roxanne McMurray is recognized in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's "People on the Move."
McMurray Medical Receives Prestigious ANA Innovation Award
Minneapolis — March 9, 2023 — McMurray Medical has been selected as the winner of the American Nurses Association 2023 “nurse-led team” Innovation Award. Roxanne McMurray, CRNA, DNP, APRN, received the award for the device she invented, the McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA). Read full press release
The Plan B CRNA Podcast Provider Spotlight- Keep Patients Breathing with the McMurray Enhanced Airway by Roxanne McMurray
Bobby Jones, Episode 101, February 21, 2022
Maintaining a patent airway for patients is critically important. While patient populations have changed significantly over the decades, airway management tools have not. Learn more about important new options in keeping patients breathing at a moment’s notice in this podcast.
Breakthrough McMurray Medical Airway Management Device Named 2021 EMS World Innovation Awards Winner
St. Paul, Minn. — December 6, 2021 — The McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA), the first distal pharyngeal airway (DPA), has been named a 2021 EMS World Innovation Awards winner. Read full press release
Keeping Pace with Change
Outpatient Surgery Magazine, January 2021, pg 62-63.
Roxanne McMurray, DPN, APRN, CRNA and founder of McMurray Medical shares important considerations for outpatient providers, including the need for improved airway management. Read full article
Safe Anesthesia Care During COVID-19
Outpatient Surgery Magazine, November 2020, pg 74-75.
Take precautions to reduce exposure risks to airborne droplets. Read full article
Managing MAC
Outpatient Surgery Magazine, October 2020, pg 68-69.
Roxanne McMurray —Administering this form of anesthesia demands mixing art and science. Read full article
New Airway Device Useful in COVID Era —
McMurray Enhanced Airway Can Reduce Certain Patient-Provider Contact Read more on Medical Alley
McMurray Medical Recognized for Innovative Airway Device
McMurray Medical Recognized for Innovative Airway Device McMurray Enhanced Airway Highlighted at WAMM
Peer Reviewed Articles and Abstracts
Sudden Hypoxemia in GI Procedure Relieved by a New Distal Pharyngeal Airway (DPA): Case Report
Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Articles Between Issues, July 16, 2023.
Airway management challenges such as upper airway obstruction and hypoxemia occur frequently in gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopies. Closed claims analyses indicate that GI endoscopy cases are associated with the highest number of malpractice claims for anesthesia providers, highlighting the need for upper airway patency and oxygenation improvements. The Distal Pharyngeal Airway can be placed alongside an EGD endoscope to relieve distal pharyngeal airway obstruction and facilitate effective airway management under sedation.
Current Concepts in the Management of the Difficult Airway
Anesthesiology News, June 2023, Vol. 20, No. 1, pg 26, Table 7, Ventilation on Oxygenation.
McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA) - An easy-to-use distal pharyngeal airway (DPA) device that is flexible like a nasal airway but designed for oral use. Opens the obstructed airway beyond the tongue. Soft, flexible tubing with a cushioned bite block that is placed between the molars. With the 15-mm connector, the MEA can attach to an anesthesia circuit or manual resuscitator to allow continuous oxygenation during intubation or intraoral ventilation to ease poor positive pressure mask ventilation.
Introducing the First Distal Pharyngeal Airway
A & A Practice, June 2023, Vol. 17, No. 6. DOI: 10.1213/XAA.0000000000001691
Airway obstruction during anesthesia is a common occurrence with potentially serious outcomes. Increasingly, patients are older, heavier, and more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea—all heightened risk factors for airway complications. These patients undergo procedures where distal pharyngeal tissues can relax, obstructing the airway. As a result, there is a need for airway devices that can stent open distal pharyngeal tissues to maintain adequate ventilation. To physically address this problem, the new distal pharyngeal airway (DPA) prevents airway obstruction and enables providers to maintain ventilation.
CRNA Reimagines Airway Management, Invents Device
Roxanne McMurray, DNP, APRN, CRNA, never set out to be an inventor. Continue reading article in AANA News Bulletin
New Distal Pharyngeal Airway Contributes to Improved Patient Care and Outcomes: 2 Case Reports
Anesthesiology News, March 2022 , pg 8-9
Most Airway Management for anesthesia providers and airway experts is routine, predictable uneventful and straightforward. However, when a challenging airway occurs in a clinical situation it... Read full article
Novel Airway Reverses Hypoxia in GI Procedure: A Case Report -
Highlighted at SAM Scientific Meeting and Workshop in Tucson, AZ. Abstract | Link to Poster
The Need for Improved Airway Management techniques at a Moment’s Notice: Two Case Reports -
Highlighted at SAMBA Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia in Phoenix, AZ. e-Poster
Peer Review
McMurray R, Gordon L. A Survey of Provider Satisfaction of a New, Flexible Extended-Length Pharyngeal Airway to Relieve Upper Airway Obstruction during Deep Sedation. Enliven: J Anesthesiol Crit Care Med. 2021;8(2):002.
MEA use-assessment survey study involved 54 anesthesia providers from 15 U.S. surgery locations. Providers were instructed on MEA use and trialed the airway in adult patients experiencing an upper airway obstruction under deep sedation/MAC. Results include:
-
100% successful in establishing and maintaining a patent airway (n=86)
-
93% of respondents agreed that the MEA was easy to place
-
98% allowed for a “hands-off approach"
-
86% would improve airway management practice and patient outcomes
This pilot study demonstrated that the novel extended airway is an effective and satisfactory method for anesthesia providers to alleviate airway obstruction during deep sedation
DOI Link: https://doi-ds.org/doilink/03.2022-61723195/82-002
A Pilot Study
McMurray R. A Pilot Study of an Innovative Flexible Extended-Length Airway to Relief Upper Airway Obstruction: The McMurray Enhanced Airway. AANA.com, AANA Foundation 2020 Poster Abstracts. Abstract on page 44. | E-poster presentation
Airway Management for Deep Sedation
McMurray R, Becker L, Frost Olsen K, McMurray M. Airway Management for Deep Sedation: Current Practice, Limitations, and Needs as Identified by Clinical Observation and Survey Results. AANA J. 2020, 88(2):123- 129.
A clinical observation study (n=243) and an electronic provider survey (n=293) were conducted to examine the practices related to airway management in deep sedation/monitored anesthesia care (MAC). The clinical observation study objective was to investigate reported postoperative sore throat (POST) occurrence associated with use of either a non-traditional airway (nasal airway used orally) or traditional oral airways (TOAs) in deep sedation procedures. Patients receiving non-traditional airways reported significantly (P<.001) less POST. These results prompted a broader exploration into deep sedation airway practices of anesthesia providers via an electronic survey. The majority of respondents to the electronic survey (n=293) reported adverse effects including gagging/coughing upon insertion, oral cavity injury and bleeding with TOAs. A noteworthy subgroup of the electronic group (52.8%) reported using nasal airways orally to avoid adverse effects associated with TOAs. Investigation outcomes suggest a clinical void in current airway management options for deep sedation. Results indicate providers' interests in airway devices that maintain a patent airway while mitigating adverse effects associated with commonly used traditional airways.
​
Innovative Airway for Deep Sedation/MAC: A New Solution
McMurray R. Innovative airway for deep sedation/MAC: A new solution. The McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA). Trends in Anesthesia and Critical Care. February 2020.
Anesthesia providers at two different hospitals completed 62 surveys, providing feedback on the McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA). Of the respondents, 100% reported that the MEA would improve their airway management practice and positively impact patient care. All of the respondents reported that they would recommend the MEA for use in the following ways: for deep sedation/monitored anesthesia care (MAC) airway management, for intraoral ventilation, to help decrease fire risk associated with oxygen delivery, and to prevent collapsing of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA). Of the survey respondents, 95% stated they would use the MEA to prevent collapsing of the endotracheal tube (ETT).
Innovative Airway for Deep sedation/MAC
McMurray R. Innovative airway for deep sedation/MAC: A new solution. The McMurray Enhanced Airway. 2nd World Airway Management Meeting 2019 poster presentation 325. E-Poster presentation
Deep monitored anesthesia care (MAC) administration is increasing and offers patient comfort while preserving spontaneous ventilation. Establishing a patent airway is essential to avoid adverse outcomes from inadequate ventilation and oxygenation—the source in more than a quarter of reported MAC anesthesia closed claims. Pharyngeal airways are often needed. Yet, anesthesia providers often must implement chin lift or jaw thrust to alleviate redundant tissue obstruction. These maneuvers can provoke pain for both patients and providers. Workarounds in airway management have emerged in order to displace redundant pharyngeal soft tissue and improve ventilation and respiratory outcomes. To avoid these workarounds, some of which involve off-label practices of nasal airways used orally, and to provide a needed solution, the McMurray Enhanced Airway (MEA) was developed. To obtain feedback of the MEA, 62 surveys were completed by anesthesia providers at two different hospitals. Of the respondents,100% reported that the MEA would improve their airway management practice and positively impact patient care. Based on the survey data from the first clinical use, the MEA fills a gap in airway management to improve ventilation and respiratory outcomes. The MEA can also aid in intraoral ventilation for challenging-to-ventilate patient populations.