Publications

OBJECTIVE: Neuromuscular paralysis without sedation is an avoidable medical error with negative psychologic and potentially physiologic consequences. We determine the frequency of long-acting paralysis without concurrent sedation among patients intubated in our emergency department (ED) or before arrival.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study from July 2007 to August 2009. We chose this time interval because in 2006, our institution developed a multidisciplinary plan designed to improve care of intubated patients. We identified all mechanically ventilated patients using billing codes. We reviewed all records to identify use of long-acting neuromuscular blocking agents. We captured data on patient characteristics and location of intubation, using a standardized data collection form. We report bivariate risk ratios to quantify associations with lack of concurrent sedation. A priori, we defined concurrent sedation as administration of any sedative during the 60 minutes preceding and the 15 minutes after administration of the long-acting paralytic.

RESULTS: Over the 26-month period of study, 292 patients received a long-acting paralytic. Of the 212 available for analysis, 39 (18%) did not receive concurrent sedation. Every decade of age increased the risk of paralysis without concurrent sedation by 1.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-1.4). Paralysis for intubation (vs for transport or ventilation management) increased the odds of no sedation by 2.1 (95% CI, 1.2-3.7). No other covariates predicted nonsedation.

CONCLUSION: Absence of concurrent sedation was common among patients receiving long-acting neuromuscular paralysis before arrival or at our ED, despite implementation of a guideline to improve practice.

OBJECTIVES: While optical and video laryngoscopy have been studied in the emergency department, the operating room, and the routine prehospital setting, their efficacy in the tactical environment–in which operator safety is as important as intubation success–has not been evaluated. This study compared direct laryngoscopes to optical (AirTraq) and video (King Vision) laryngoscopes in a simulated tactical setting.

METHODS: This prospective institutional review board-approved simulation study evaluated each of the laryngoscopes in the hands of seven experienced tactical paramedics. After a one-hour training session, each tactical paramedic used each of the laryngoscopes, in a random order, on each of four different airway manikins. A tactical environment was simulated using auditory and visual immersion, and the intubations occurred on the ground with the paramedics in full tactical gear. Outcomes included time to successful ventilation, first-pass success rate, Cormack-Lehane grade, and intubator head height during the intubation. Statistical analysis included chi-squared and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, and multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine contributing factors to outcomes with significant variation.

RESULTS: A total of 84 intubations were performed by seven tactical paramedics. While there were no significant differences in time to successful ventilation or first-pass success rate, the optical and video laryngoscopes had significantly better Cormack-Lehane grades, defined as grade I or II (100% for both compared to 85.7%), while direct laryngoscopy resulted in significantly less maximum vertical exposure of the intubator (51.82 cm compared to AirTraq's 56.64 cm and King Vision's 56.13 cm).

CONCLUSION: Video and optical laryngoscopes can be used successfully by experienced tactical paramedics in a simulated tactical setting. The King Vision and AirTraq resulted in improved Cormack-Lehane glottic views but similar times to ventilation and first-pass success compared to direct laryngoscopy. Intubator head height was lower with direct laryngoscopy. Clarifying the role of optical and video laryngoscopes in a tactical environment, especially in the hands of less experienced intubators, requires further research.

INTRODUCTION: Pre-hospital airway management is a key component of resuscitation although the benefit of pre-hospital intubation has been widely debated. We report a large series of pre-hospital emergency airway encounters performed by air-transport providers in a large, multi-state system.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed electronic intubation flight records from an 89 rotorcraft air medical system from January 01, 2007, through December 31, 2009. We report patient characteristics, intubation methods, success rates, and rescue techniques with descriptive statistics. We report proportions with 95% confidence intervals and binary comparisons using chi square test with p-values <0.05 considered significant.

RESULTS: 4,871 patients had active airway management, including 2,186 (44.9%) medical and 2,685 (55.1%) trauma cases. There were 4,390 (90.1%) adult and 256 (5.3%) pediatric (age ≤ 14) intubations; 225 (4.6%) did not have an age recorded. 4,703 (96.6%) had at least one intubation attempt. Intubation was successful on first attempt in 3,710 (78.9%) and was ultimately successful in 4,313 (91.7%). Intubation success was higher for medical than trauma patients (93.4% versus 90.3%, p=0.0001 JT test). 168 encounters were managed primarily with an extraglottic device (EGD). Cricothyrotomy was performed 35 times (0.7%) and was successful in 33. Patients were successfully oxygenated and ventilated with an endotracheal tube, EGD, or surgical airway in 4809 (98.7%) encounters. There were no reported deaths from a failed airway.

CONCLUSION: Airway management, predominantly using rapid sequence intubation protocols, is successful within this high-volume, multi-state air-transport system.

AIM: To examine the success rates of emergency department airway management by resident physicians in Japan.

METHODS: We conducted an analysis of a multicentre prospective registry (Japanese Emergency Airway Network Registry) of 13 academic and community emergency departments in Japan. We included all patients who underwent emergency intubation performed by postgraduate year 1 to 5 transitional or emergency medicine residents (resident physicians) between April 2010 and August 2012. Outcome measures were success rates by the first intubator, and by rescue intubator, according to the level of training.

RESULTS: We recorded 4,094 intubations (capture rate, 96%); 2,800 attempts (2,800/4,094; 68%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 67%-70%) were initially performed by resident physicians. Overall success rate on the first attempt was 63% (1,767/2,789; 95%CI, 61%-64%); the rate improved over the first 3 years of training before reaching a plateau (P trend < 0.001). Success rate by the first intubator was 78% (2,185/2,800; 95%CI, 76%-79%); the rate steadily improved as level of training increased (P trend < 0.001). Of 597 failed intubation attempts by the first intubator, 41% (247/597; 95%CI, 37%-45%) of rescue attempts were performed by resident physicians. Success rate on the first rescue attempt was 76% (187/247; 95%CI, 70%-81%), and success rate by first rescue intubator was 89% (220/247; 95%CI, 85%-93%). These rates on rescue attempts steadily improved as level of training increased (both P trend < 0.001). Intubations were ultimately successful in 2,778 encounters (99.6%).

CONCLUSION: In this multicentre study characterizing emergency airway management across Japan, we observed that emergency department intubations were primarily managed by resident physicians with acceptably high success rates overall.

BACKGROUND: Airway management in a trauma patient can be particularly challenging when both a difficult airway and the need for rapid action collide. The provider must evaluate the trauma patient for airway difficulty, develop an airway management plan, and be willing to act quickly with incomplete information.

DISCUSSION: Thorough knowledge of airway management algorithms will assist the emergency physician in providing optimal care and offer a rapid and effective treatment plan.

CONCLUSIONS: Using a case-based approach, this article reviews initial trauma airway management strategies along with the rationale for evidence-based treatments.

BACKGROUND: As part of a quality improvement initiative to reduce Emergency Department (ED) length of stay (LOS) for surgical consult patients, we e-mailed performance metrics to key stakeholders on a daily basis. ED and Surgery leadership used these daily metrics to identify and remedy contributing factors for increased ED LOS in patients who received surgical consults.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether a quality improvement process driven by a daily performance metric e-mail would be associated with a change in ED LOS for surgical consult patients.

METHODS: Prospective before-after study looking at ED LOS for surgical consult patients after an e-mail intervention at a tertiary academic teaching hospital. All consecutive adult ED patients between July 1, 2010 and October 1, 2010 who received a general surgical consult were enrolled. The primary outcome measure was ED LOS, and secondary outcome measure was time to consultation.

RESULTS: There were 916 patients who had surgical consults placed during the study period; 459 patients presented before the intervention and 457 patients presented after the intervention. The median LOS decreased 54 min, from 463 min (interquartile range [IQR] 326-617) before the intervention to 409 min (IQR 294.5-528.5) after the intervention (p < 0.001). Time to consultation decreased 25 min, from a median of 160 min (IQR 87-265) to 135 min (IQR 70-239.5) (p = 0.002). There was no difference in age, severity, number of consults, or disposition. There was also no difference in median LOS for other consultation services or in previous years during the same time period.

CONCLUSIONS: ED LOS and time to consultation were decreased for surgical consult patients after initiation of daily performance metric e-mails.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the landscape of process of care and safety outcomes for tracheal intubation across pediatric intensive care units

BACKGROUND: Procedural process of care and safety outcomes of tracheal intubation across pediatric intensive care units has not been described. We hypothesize that the novel National Emergency Airway Registry for Children registry is a feasible tool to capture tracheal intubation process of care and outcomes.

DESIGN: Prospective, descriptive.

SETTING: Fifteen academic PICUs in North America.

PATIENTS: Critically ill children requiring tracheal intubation in PICUs.

INTERVENTIONS: Tracheal intubation quality improvement data were prospectively collected for all initial tracheal intubation in 15 PICUs from July 2010 to December 2011 using the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children tool with explicit site-specific compliance plans and operational definitions including adverse tracheal intubation associated events.

MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: One thousand seven hundred fifteen tracheal intubation encounters were reported (averaging 1/3.4 days, or 1/86 bed days). Ninety-eight percent of primary tracheal intubation were successful; 86% were successful with less than or equal to two attempts. First attempt was by pediatric residents in 23%, pediatric critical care fellows in 41%, and critical care attending physicians in 13%: first attempt success rate was 62%, first provider success rate was 79%. The first method was oral intubation in 1,659 (98%) and nasal in 55 (2%). Direct laryngoscopy was used in 96%. Ninety percent of tracheal intubation were with cuffed tracheal tubes. Adverse tracheal intubation associated events were reported in 20% of intubations (n = 372), with severe tracheal intubation associated events in 6% (n = 115). Esophageal intubation with immediate recognition was the most common tracheal intubation associated events (n = 167, 9%). History of difficult airway, diagnostic category, unstable hemodynamics, and resident provider as first airway provider were associated with occurrence of tracheal intubation associated events. Severe tracheal intubation associated events were associated with diagnostic category and pre-existing unstable hemodynamics. Elective tracheal intubation status was associated with fewer severe tracheal intubation associated events.

CONCLUSIONS: National Emergency Airway Registry for Children was feasible to characterize PICU tracheal intubation procedural process of care and safety outcomes. Self-reported adverse tracheal intubation associated events occurred frequently and were associated with patient, provider, and practice characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Effective airway management is the cornerstone of resuscitative efforts for any critically ill or injured patient. The role and safety of pediatric prehospital intubation is controversial, particularly after prior research has shown varying degrees of intubation success. We report a series of consecutive prehospital pediatric intubations performed by air-transport providers.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed intubation flight records from an 89-rotorcraft, multistate emergency flight service during the time period from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2009. All patients younger than 15 years were included in our analysis. We characterized patient, flight, and operator demographics; intubation methods; success rates; rescue techniques; and adverse events with descriptive statistics. We report proportions with 95% confidence intervals and differences between groups with Fisher exact and χ tests; P < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS: Two hundred sixty pediatric intubations were performed consisting of 88 medical (33.8%) and 172 trauma (66.2%) cases; 98.8% (n = 257) underwent an orotracheal intubation attempt as the first method. First-pass intubation success was 78.6% (n = 202), and intubation was ultimately successful in 95.7% (n = 246) of cases. Medical and trauma intubations had similar success rates (98% vs 95%, Fisher exact test P = 0.3412). There was no difference in intubation success between age groups (χ = 0.26, P = 0.88). Three patients were managed primarily with an extraglottic device. Rescue techniques were used in 11 encounters (4.2%), all of which were successful. Cricothyrotomy was performed twice, both successful.

CONCLUSIONS: Prehospital pediatric intubation performed by air-transport providers, using rapid sequence intubation protocols, is highly successful. This effect on patient outcome requires further study.

BACKGROUND: Tracheal intubation is an important intervention to stabilize critically ill and injured children. Provider training level has been associated with procedural safety and outcomes in the neonatal intensive care settings. We hypothesized that tracheal intubation success and adverse tracheal intubation-associated events are correlated with provider training level in the PICU.

METHODS: A prospective multicenter observational cohort study was performed across 15 PICUs to evaluate tracheal intubation between July 2010 to December 2011. All data were collected by using a standard National Emergency Airway Registry for Children reporting system endorsed as a Quality Improvement project of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigator network. Outcome measures included first attempt success, overall success, and adverse tracheal intubation-associated events.

RESULTS: Reported were 1265 primary oral intubation encounters by pediatric providers. First and overall attempt success were residents (37%, 51%), fellows (70%, 89%), and attending physicians (72%, 94%). After adjustment for relevant patient factors, fellow provider was associated with a higher rate of first attempt success (odds ratio [OR], 4.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.24-5.68) and overall success (OR, 9.27; 95% CI, 6.56-13.1) compared with residents. Fellow (versus resident) as first airway provider was associated with fewer tracheal intubation associated events (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.31-0.57).

CONCLUSIONS: Across a broad spectrum of PICUs, resident provider tracheal intubation success is low and adverse associated events are high, compared with fellows. More intensive pediatric resident procedural training is necessary before "live" tracheal intubations in the intensive care setting.