Articles: intubation.
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Observational Study
Routine Use of a Bougie Improves First-Attempt Intubation Success in the Out-of-Hospital Setting.
The bougie is typically treated as a rescue device for difficult airways. We evaluate whether first-attempt success rate during paramedic intubation in the out-of-hospital setting changed with routine use of a bougie. ⋯ Routine out-of-hospital use of the bougie during direct laryngoscopy was associated with increased first-attempt intubation success rate.
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Emergency airway management (EAM) is associated with a high rate of complications, morbidity, and mortality. Handheld point-of-care ultrasound shows promise as an emerging technology to facilitate rapid screening for difficult laryngoscopy, identify the cricothyroid membrane for potential cricothyroidotomy, and assess for increased aspiration risk, as well as provide confirmation of proper endotracheal tube positioning. This review summarizes the available evidence for the use of point-of-care ultrasound in EAM, provides an algorithm to facilitate its incorporation into existing EAM practice to improve patient safety, and serves as a framework for future validation studies.
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Our ED-intensive care unit has instituted a new protocol meant to maximise the safety of physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists involved with endotracheal intubation of patients known or suspected of being infected with the novel SARS-CoV-2. The level of detail involved with this checklist is a deviation from standard intubation practices and is likely unfamiliar to most emergency physicians. However, the two-person system used in our department removes the cognitive burden such complexity would otherwise demand and minimises the number of participants that would typically be exposed during endotracheal intubation. We share this checklist to demonstrate to other departments how adopting international airway guidelines to a specific institution can be achieved in order to promote healthcare worker safety.