First-Attempt Intubation Success Among Emergency Medicine Trainees by Laryngoscopic Device and Training Year: A National Emergency Airway Registry Study

Association between multiple intubation attempts and complications during emergency department airway management: A national emergency airway registry study

OBJECTIVE

Peri-intubation complications are important sequelae of airway management in the emergency department (ED). Our objective was to quantify the increased risk of complications with multiple attempts at emergency airway intubation in the ED.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis of a prospectively collected multicenter registry (National Emergency Airway Registry) consisting of attempted ED intubations among subjects aged >14 years. The primary exposure variable was the number of intubation attempts. The primary outcome measure was the occurrence of peri-intubation major complications within 15 min of intubation including hypotension, hypoxemia, vomiting, dysrhythmias, cardiac arrest, esophageal intubation, and failed airway with cricothyrotomy. We constructed multivariable logistic regression models to determine the associations between complications and the number of intubation attempts while controlling for measured pre-exposure variables.

RESULTS

There were 19,071 intubations in the NEAR database, of which 15,079 met inclusion for this analysis. Of these, 13,459 were successfully intubated on the first attempt, 1,268 on the second attempt, 269 on the third attempt, 61 on the fourth attempt, and 22 on the fifth or more attempt. A complication occurred in 2,137 encounters (14 %). Major complications accompanied 1,968 encounters (13 %) whereas minor complications affected 315 encounters (2 %). The most common major complication was hypoxia. In our multivariable logistic regression model, odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals for the occurrence of major complications for multiple attempts compared to first-pass success were 4.4 (3.6-5.3), 7.4 (5.0-10.7), 13.9 (5.6-34.3), and 9.3 (2.1-41.7) for attempts 2-5+ (reference attempt 1), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

We found an independent association between the number of intubation attempts among ED patients undergoing emergency airway intubation and the risk of complications.

Video-Based Study of the Progression of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows' Tracheal Intubation Performance During Training

BACKGROUND

The lower clinical exposure of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) fellows to critical procedures may impede skill acquisition. We sought to determine the tracheal intubation learning curve of PEM fellows during training and compared PEM fellow success against standards for tracheal intubation success.

METHODS

This was a retrospective, video-based study of a cohort of PEM fellows at a single academic pediatric emergency department (PED). All forms of tracheal intubation were included (rapid sequence intubation and crash or no medication). The cohort consisted of 36 PEM fellows from all or part of 5 consecutive fellowship classes. Data were collected by structured review of both existing ceiling-mounted videos and the electronic medical record. The main outcome was PEM fellows' success on the first or second attempt. We used cumulative summation to generate tracheal intubation learning curves. We specifically assessed the proportion of PEM fellows who reached 1 of 4 thresholds for procedural performance: 90% and 80% predicted success on the first and the first or second attempt.

RESULTS

From July 2014 to June 2020, there were 610 patient encounters with at least 1 attempt at tracheal intubation. The 36 PEM fellows performed at least 1 attempt at tracheal intubation for 414 ED patient encounters (65%). Median patient age was 2.1 years (interquartile range, 0.4-8.1). The PEM fellows were successful on the first attempt for 276 patients (67%) and on the first or second attempt for 337 (81%). None of the 36 PEM fellows reached the 90% threshold for either first or second attempt success. Four fellows (11%) met the 80% threshold for first attempt success and 11 (31%) met the 80% threshold for first or second attempt success.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite performing the majority of attempts, PEM fellows often failed to reach the standard thresholds for performance of tracheal intubation. Clinical exposure alone is too low to ensure acquisition of airway skills.

Emergency Medicine Postgraduate Year, Laryngoscopic View, and Endotracheal Tube Placement Success

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Prior work has found first-attempt success improves with emergency medicine (EM) postgraduate year (PGY). However, the association between PGY and laryngoscopic view - a key step in successful intubation - is unknown. We examined the relationship among PGY, laryngoscopic view (ie, Cormack-Lehane view), and first-attempt success.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective analysis of the National Emergency Airway Registry, including adult intubations by EM PGY 1 to 4 resident physicians. We used inverse probability weighting with propensity scores to balance confounders. We used weighted regression and model comparison to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between PGY and Cormack-Lehane view, tested the interaction between PGY and Cormack-Lehane view on first-attempt success, and examined the effect modification of Cormack-Lehane view on the association between PGY and first-attempt success.

RESULTS

After exclusions, we included 15,453 first attempts. Compared to PGY 1, the aORs for a higher Cormack-Lehane grade did not differ from PGY 2 (1.01; 95% CI 0.49 to 2.07), PGY 3 (0.92; 0.31 to 2.73), or PGY 4 (0.80; 0.31 to 2.04) groups. The interaction between PGY and Cormack-Lehane view was significant (P-interaction<0.001). In patients with Cormack-Lehane grade 3 or 4, the aORs for first-attempt success were higher for PGY 2 (1.80; 95% CI 1.17 to 2.77), PGY 3 (2.96; 1.66 to 5.27) and PGY 4 (3.10; 1.60 to 6.00) groups relative to PGY 1.

CONCLUSION

Compared with PGY 1, PGY 2, 3, and 4 resident physicians obtained similar Cormack-Lehane views but had higher first-attempt success when obtaining a grade 3 or 4 view.

Interventions associated with survival after prehospital intubation in the deployed combat setting

INTRODUCTION

Airway compromise is the second leading cause of potentially preventable death on the battlefield. Prehospital airway management is often unavoidable in a kinetic combat environment and expected to increase in future wars where timely evacuation will be unreliable and air superiority not guaranteed. We compared characteristics of survivors to non-survivors among combat casualties undergoing prehospital airway intubation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We requested all Department of Defense Trauma Registry (DODTR) encounters during 2007-2023 with documentation of any airway intervention or assessment within the first 72-h after injury. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all casualties with intubation documented in the prehospital setting. We used descriptive and inferential statistical analysis to compare survivors through 7 days post injury versus non-survivors. We constructed 3 multivariable logistic regression models to test for associations between interventions and 7-day survival after adjusting for injury severity score, mechanism of injury, and receipt of sedatives, paralytics, and blood products.

RESULTS

There were 1377 of 48,301 patients with documentation of prehospital intubation in a combat setting. Of these, 1028 (75%) survived through 7 days post injury. Higher proportions of survivors received ketamine, paralytic agents, parenteral opioids, and parenteral benzodiazepines; there was no difference in the proportions of survivors versus non-survivors receiving etomidate. The multivariable models consistently demonstrated positive associations between 7-day survival and receipt of non-depolarizing paralytics and opioid analgesics.

CONCLUSIONS

We found an association between non-depolarizing paralytic and opioid receipt with 7-day survival among patients undergoing prehospital intubation. The literature would benefit from future multi-center randomized controlled trials to establish optimal pharmacologic strategies for trauma patients undergoing prehospital intubation.

Videolaryngoscopy as a primary intubation modality in obstetrics: A narrative review of current evidence

Pregnancy-related physiologic and anatomic changes affect oxygenation and airway management, and it is widely believed that airway difficulty may be more common in obstetric patients as a result. In addition, most obstetric intubations are performed under emergency conditions, and preoperative airway assessment poorly predicts airway management outcomes. These considerations necessitate special protocols for airway care in the obstetric population, and the evolution of the videolaryngoscope represents one of the most important milestones in recent decades. However, recommendations for the use of videolaryngoscopy in obstetrics remain unclear. A considerable body of evidence affirms that videolaryngoscopy improves laryngeal visualisation, increases first-attempt and overall intubation success rates, shortens intubation time, and facilitates team communication and education. In contrast, a significant number of studies have also reported conflicting results regarding comparative clinical outcomes and have highlighted other limitations regarding the adoption of videolaryngoscopy in routine obstetric care. Nevertheless, considering the peculiarities of obstetric intubation, the Macintosh-style videolaryngoscope can be suggested as the primary intubation device as it offers the benefits of both videolaryngoscopy and direct laryngoscopy. However, more rigorous evidence is needed to clarify the current blind spots and controversies regarding the role of videolaryngoscopy in obstetrics.