Articles: intubation.
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Trauma patients often require endotracheal intubation for urgent or emergent airway protection or to allow expeditious imaging when they cannot cooperate with the needed evaluation. These patients may occasionally be extubated in the emergency department (ED) when the trauma workup is negative for consequential injuries and eventually discharged from the ED. The timing and safety of discharging these patients is unclear. ⋯ Patients presenting to the ED with possible acute traumatic injuries who are intubated and then extubated after trauma evaluation and resolution of the indication for intubation appear to have a low incidence of complication or return visit when discharged from the ED after a brief period of observation. Specific extubation and discharge criteria should be developed to ensure the safety of this practice. Further validation is required in the form of larger and prospective studies.
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During the last decade, guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation has shifted, placing chest compressions and defibrillation first and airway management second. Physicians are being forced to intubate simultaneously with uninterrupted, high quality chest compressions. Using a mannequin model, this study examines the differences between direct and video laryngoscopy, comparing their performance with and without simultaneous chest compressions. ⋯ Using a mannequin model, the C-MAC conventional VL blade resulted in decrease intubation times compared with DL or the GlideScope hyperangulated VL blade system. Overall, VL out performed DL in terms of providing a superior glottic view, minimizing failed attempts, and improving physician's overall perception of intubation difficulty. Chest compressions resulted in worse Cormack-Lehane views and higher rates of inaccurate endotracheal tube placement with DL, compared to VL.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2021
Pediatric Difficult Airway Response Team Utilization in the Emergency Department: A Case Series.
A multidisciplinary pediatric difficult airway team was created at our institution to respond to hospital-wide airway emergencies. We report the characteristics, indications, and outcomes of these activations that occur in the pediatric emergency department (PED). ⋯ Difficult airways in the PED were uncommon. Most cases were resolved with familiar equipment including direct laryngoscopy, video laryngoscopy, and supraglottic airways.
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Cricothyrotomy is a rare, time sensitive procedure that is more challenging to perform when anatomical landmarks are not easily palpated before the initial incision. There is a paucity of literature describing the optimal technique for cricothyrotomy in patients with impalpable airway structures, such as in morbid obesity. In this study, we used a live sheep model of morbid obesity to compare the effectiveness of two common cricothyrotomy techniques. ⋯ In this study, which simulated morbid obesity on a living animal model complete with active hemorrhage and time pressure caused by extubation before the procedure, the bougie-guided technique was faster than the traditional technique using a tracheostomy tube without a bougie.
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Editorial Comment
Evolving Tracheal Intubation Practice Patterns in the Pandemic Era.