The American journal of emergency medicine
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Neither the success nor the complication rate for field intubation of trauma patients is known with any certainty. A retrospective audit of 94 severely injured patients who required field intubation was undertaken. ⋯ When compared with previously published studies of medical patients with cardiac arrest, the success rate was lower in our trauma patients. When compared with patients having similar injuries intubated at the trauma center, field intubation was three times more likely to be associated with the development of nosocomial pneumonia than was hospital intubation.
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The goal of emergency medicine is to improve health while preventing and treating disease and illness in patients seeking emergency medical care. Improvements in emergency medical care and the delivery of this care can be achieved through credible and meaningful research efforts. ⋯ Promotion of multidisciplinary research teams will help the specialty fulfill its goals. The result will be the improvement of emergency medical care which will benefit not only the patients emergency physicians serve but also, ultimately, the nation's health.