Mask ventilation is an important management skill. Creating a seal between the mask and the patient’s face by lifting the mandible (chin lift) and providing jaw thrust allows for positive pressure (assisted) ventilation.  Mask ventilation may be required to assist with ventilation before intubation to achieve preoxygenation. Thus if intubation proves to be difficult after induction , mask ventilation can provide critical oxygenation and ventilation between laryngoscopy attempts.

Koga et al in his study compares between a cuffed oropharyngeal airway adjunct and a Guedel Airway with the final conclusion that an oropharyngeal airway plays a better role in opening the airways to pre-oxygenate a patient during ventillation.Similiarly in our study we will be comparing an oropharyngeal airway device with that of a nasopharyngeal airway device to see which is more efficacious in opening the airways of a patient under general anaesthesia and assist in breathing. Langeron et al stresses on how the use of airway adjuncts as those used in the proposed study above help to ventilate patients with suspected difficult airway. Alexander et al on the other hand compares the ease of insertion of the airways based on training and experience.

This study will also shed some light on the learning curve of a resident (postgraduate) anaestheesiologist with minimum 6 months experience in the teaching curriculum