The cover story of the March 2025 issue of Northern Connection Magazine featured a simulator-based training program for health care professionals to practice a rare surgical emergency airway management procedure for high-risk patients. The program is directed by UPMC Passavant anesthesiologist Charles Lin, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Lin developed the program in collaboration with John O’Donnell, DrPH, CRNA, Professor and Chair of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Nurse Anesthesia, with grant support from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, the Passavant Hospital Foundation, the Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education, and Research (WISER), the University of Pittsburgh Department of Nurse Anesthesia, and the Beckwith Institute.
Workshops have been held across UPMC at various hospitals, the latest two of which were at UPMC Passavant in early 2025. The clinician team helping Dr. Lin to lead the Passavant workshops include Carl J. Daltner, MD; Francis X. Feld, DNP, LAT, NRP, CRNA; Wende A. Goncz, DO, MMM; and Daniel Mandell, MD.