• Marianne Gausche-Hill.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Little Company of Mary Hospital, UCLA School of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California 90503, USA. mgauschehill@adelphia.net
• Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2003 Apr 1;16(2):173-81.

Purpose Of ReviewEnsuring quality in prehospital airway management is challenging because the out-of-hospital setting is a fast-paced and unpredictable environment. The first step in meeting this challenge is the recognition by emergency medical service leaders that prehospital airway management is prone to error. Quality core values such as safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity for prehospital airway management, specifically endotracheal intubation, will be discussed.Recent FindingsControlled studies in prehospital airway management are few. In those that have evaluated the use of endotracheal intubation in this setting, safety issues, increased scene time, and lack of effectiveness to improve outcome have been revealed.SummaryEmergency medical service administrators must critically evaluate the quality of prehospital airway management that they are providing to patients within their system by collecting the data necessary to identify quality issues and developing strategies to implement change. Research into other techniques that can provide ventilation and oxygenation to patients in the prehospital environment and that are safe and effective, such as laryngeal mask airway, need to be performed.

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