Noninvasive Ventilation for Preoxygenation during Emergency Intubation.

BACKGROUND: Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, hypoxemia increases the risk of cardiac arrest and death. The effect of preoxygenation with noninvasive ventilation, as compared with preoxygenation with an oxygen mask, on the incidence of hypoxemia during tracheal intubation is uncertain. METHODS: In a multicenter, randomized trial conducted at 24 emergency departments and intensive care units in the United States, we randomly assigned critically ill adults (age, ≥18 years) undergoing tracheal intubation to receive preoxygenation with either noninvasive ventilation or an oxygen mask. The primary outcome was hypoxemia during intubation, defined by an oxygen saturation of less than 85% during the interval between induction of anesthesia and 2 minutes after tracheal intubation. RESULTS: Among the 1301 patients enrolled, hypoxemia occurred in 57 of 624 patients (9.1%) in the noninvasive-ventilation group and in 118 of 637 patients (18.5%) in the oxygen-mask group (difference, -9.4 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -13.2 to -5.6; P<0.001). Cardiac arrest occurred in 1 patient (0.2%) in the noninvasive-ventilation group and in 7 patients (1.1%) in the oxygen-mask group (difference, -0.9 percentage points; 95% CI, -1.8 to -0.1). Aspiration occurred in 6 patients (0.9%) in the noninvasive-ventilation group and in 9 patients (1.4%) in the oxygen-mask group (difference, -0.4 percentage points; 95% CI, -1.6 to 0.7). CONCLUSIONS: Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, preoxygenation with noninvasive ventilation resulted in a lower incidence of hypoxemia during intubation than preoxygenation with an oxygen mask. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense; PREOXI ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05267652.).

Video versus Direct Laryngoscopy for Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults.

BACKGROUND: Whether video laryngoscopy as compared with direct laryngoscopy increases the likelihood of successful tracheal intubation on the first attempt among critically ill adults is uncertain. METHODS: In a multicenter, randomized trial conducted at 17 emergency departments and intensive care units (ICUs), we randomly assigned critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation to the video-laryngoscope group or the direct-laryngoscope group. The primary outcome was successful intubation on the first attempt. The secondary outcome was the occurrence of severe complications during intubation; severe complications were defined as severe hypoxemia, severe hypotension, new or increased vasopressor use, cardiac arrest, or death. RESULTS: The trial was stopped for efficacy at the time of the single preplanned interim analysis. Among 1417 patients who were included in the final analysis (91.5% of whom underwent intubation that was performed by an emergency medicine resident or a critical care fellow), successful intubation on the first attempt occurred in 600 of the 705 patients (85.1%) in the video-laryngoscope group and in 504 of the 712 patients (70.8%) in the direct-laryngoscope group (absolute risk difference, 14.3 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.9 to 18.7; P<0.001). A total of 151 patients (21.4%) in the video-laryngoscope group and 149 patients (20.9%) in the direct-laryngoscope group had a severe complication during intubation (absolute risk difference, 0.5 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.9 to 4.9). Safety outcomes, including esophageal intubation, injury to the teeth, and aspiration, were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation in an emergency department or ICU, the use of a video laryngoscope resulted in a higher incidence of successful intubation on the first attempt than the use of a direct laryngoscope. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense; DEVICE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05239195.).

Factors Associated With Physical Restraint in an Urban Emergency Department.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine what patient characteristics were associated with the application of physical restraints in our emergency department (ED). METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of encounters in the ED of an urban, Level I academic trauma center. We included ED encounters of adult patients (aged ≥18 years) during a 5-year period starting in 2017. We evaluated the independent association of restraint application during an encounter using a generalized estimating equation model. RESULTS: There were 464,031 ED encounters during the time period from 162,244 unique patients, including 34,798 (7.5%) with restraint application, comprising 18,166 unique patients. Several variables were associated with an increased likelihood of restraint use during an encounter. The variable with the highest odds ratio was intoxication with drugs or alcohol (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.94 to 8.65). American Indian race was associated with increased odds of restraint application (aOR 1.42; 95% CI 1.31 to 1.54) compared to the reference value of White race. Black race (aOR 0.58; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.61) and Hispanic ethnicity (aOR 0.42; 95% CI 0.37 to 0.48) were associated with lower odds of restraint application. CONCLUSIONS: Drug and alcohol intoxication were most closely associated with restraint. Encounters in which the patient was American Indian had higher odds of restraint, but this study does not replicate prior findings regarding other racial disparities in restraint.

Comparing Intubation Rates in Patients Receiving Parenteral Olanzapine With and Without a Parenteral Benzodiazepine in the Emergency Department.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: United States prescribing information recommends against coadministration of injectable olanzapine with injectable benzodiazepines due to a risk of cardiorespiratory depression, whereas European prescribing information recommends the 2 drugs not be administered within 60 minutes of each other. In contrast, a recently published American College of Emergency Physicians clinical policy recommends injectable olanzapine and benzodiazepines be coadministered for treating severe agitation. We sought to compare injectable olanzapine with and without injectable benzodiazepines for evidence of cardiorespiratory depression. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of patients in an urban emergency department from January 2017 through November 2019 who received parenteral olanzapine with or without parenteral benzodiazepines. We included patients receiving 2 total medication doses, either olanzapine+benzodiazepine or 2 doses of olanzapine, coadministered within 60 minutes. The primary outcome was tracheal intubation in the emergency department. Secondary outcomes included hypotension (systolic blood pressure less than 90 mmHg) and hypoxemia (SpO2 less than 90%). RESULTS: We identified 693 patients (median [alcohol]=210 mg/dL, median age=37 years [IQR 29 to 49]). In total, 549 received 2 doses of olanzapine, and 144 patients received olanzapine and a benzodiazepine. We found no difference in intubation rates between the olanzapine-only group (21/549, 3.8%) and the olanzapine+benzodiazepine group (5/144, 3.5%; difference=0.3%, 95% confidence interval -3.0% to 3.7%). Rates of hypoxemia (2% olanzapine-only and 3% olanzapine+benzodiazepine) and hypotension (9% both groups) also were not different between groups. CONCLUSION: We found no difference in cardiorespiratory depression between patients receiving only olanzapine versus olanzapine plus a benzodiazepine.

Early Physician Gestalt Versus Usual Screening Tools for the Prediction of Sepsis in Critically Ill Emergency Patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Compare physician gestalt to existing screening tools for identifying sepsis in the initial minutes of presentation when time-sensitive treatments must be initiated. METHODS: This prospective observational study conducted with consecutive encounter sampling took place in the emergency department (ED) of an academic, urban, safety net hospital between September 2020 and May 2022. The study population included ED patients who were critically ill, excluding traumas, transfers, and self-evident diagnoses. Emergency physician gestalt was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 100 at 15 and 60 minutes after patient arrival. The primary outcome was an explicit sepsis hospital discharge diagnosis. Clinical data were recorded for up to 3 hours to compare Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), quick SOFA (qSOFA), Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), and a logistic regression machine learning model using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) for variable selection. The screening tools were compared using receiver operating characteristic analysis and area under the curve calculation (AUC). RESULTS: A total of 2,484 patient-physician encounters involving 59 attending physicians were analyzed. Two hundred seventy-five patients (11%) received an explicit sepsis discharge diagnosis. When limited to available data at 15 minutes, initial VAS (AUC 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88, 0.92) outperformed all tools including LASSO (0.84; 95% CI 0.82 to 0.87), qSOFA (0.67; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.71), SIRS (0.67; 95% 0.64 to 0.70), SOFA (0.67; 95% CI 0.63 to 0.70), and MEWS (0.66; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.69). Expanding to data available at 60 minutes did not meaningfully change results. CONCLUSION: Among adults presenting to an ED with an undifferentiated critical illness, physician gestalt in the first 15 minutes of the encounter outperformed other screening methods in identifying sepsis.

Association Between Neuromuscular Blocking Agents and Outcomes of Emergency Tracheal Intubation: A Secondary Analysis of Randomized Trials.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the neuromuscular blocking agent received (succinylcholine versus rocuronium) and the incidences of successful intubation on the first attempt and severe complications during tracheal intubation of critically ill adults in an emergency department (ED) or ICU. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of data from 2 multicenter randomized trials in critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation in an ED or ICU. Using a generalized linear mixed-effects model with prespecified baseline covariates, we examined the association between the neuromuscular blocking agent received (succinylcholine versus rocuronium) and the incidences of successful intubation on the first attempt (primary outcome) and severe complications during tracheal intubation (secondary outcome). RESULTS: Among the 2,440 patients in the trial data sets, 2,339 (95.9%) were included in the current analysis; 475 patients (20.3%) received succinylcholine and 1,864 patients (79.7%) received rocuronium. Successful intubation on the first attempt occurred in 375 patients (78.9%) who received succinylcholine and 1,510 patients (81.0%) who received rocuronium (an adjusted odds ratio of 0.87; 95% CI 0.65 to 1.15). Severe complications occurred in 67 patients (14.1%) who received succinylcholine and 456 patients (24.5%) who received rocuronium (adjusted odds ratio, 0.88; 95% CI 0.62 to 1.26). CONCLUSION: Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, the incidences of successful intubation on the first attempt and severe complications were not significantly different between patients who received succinylcholine and patients who received rocuronium.

A Practical Solution for Preoxygenation in the Prehospital Setting: A Nonrebreather Mask with Flush Rate Oxygen.

OBJECTIVE: Prehospital clinicians need a practical means of providing adequate preoxygenation prior to intubation. A bag-valve-mask (BVM) can be used for preoxygenation in perfect conditions but is likely to fail in emergency settings. For this reason, many airway experts have moved away from using BVM for preoxygenation and instead suggest using a nonrebreather (NRB) mask with flush rate oxygen.Literature on preoxygenation has suggested that a NRB mask delivering flush rate oxygen (on a 15 L/min O2 regulator, maximum flow, ∼50 L/min) is noninferior to BVM at 15 L/min held with a tight seal. However, in the prehospital setting, where emergency airway management success varies, preoxygenation techniques have not been deeply explored. Our study seeks to determine whether preoxygenation can be optimally performed with NRB at flush rate oxygen. METHODS: We performed a crossover trial using healthy volunteers. Subjects underwent 3-min trials of preoxygenation with NRB mask at 25 L/min oxygen delivered from a portable tank, NRB at flush rate oxygen from a portable tank, NRB with flush rate oxygen from an onboard ambulance tank, and BVM with flush rate oxygen from an onboard ambulance tank. The primary outcome was the fraction of expired oxygen (FeO2). We compared the FeO2 of the BVM-flush to other study groups, using a noninferiority margin of 10%. RESULTS: We enrolled 30 subjects. Mean FeO2 values for NRB-25, NRB-flush ambulance, NRB-flush portable, and BVM-flush were 63% (95% confidence interval [CI] 58-68%), 74% (95%, CI 70-78%), 78% (95%, CI 74-83%), and 80% (95%, CI 75-84%), respectively. FeO2 values for NRB-flush on both portable tank and ambulance oxygen were noninferior to BVM-flush on the ambulance oxygen system (FeO2 differences of 1%, 95% CI -3% to 6%; and 6%, 95% CI 1-10%). FeO2 for the NRB-25 group was inferior to BVM-flush (FeO2 difference 16%, 95% CI 12-21%). CONCLUSIONS: Among healthy volunteers, flush rate preoxygenation using NRB masks is noninferior to BVM using either a portable oxygen tank or ambulance oxygen. This is significant because preoxygenation using NRB masks with flush rate oxygen presents a simpler alternative to the use of BVMs. Preoxygenation using NRB masks at 25 L/min from a portable tank is inferior to BVM at flush rate.

Feasibility and Safety of Oral Risperidone to Treat Prehospital Agitation.

OBJECTIVE: Agitation is a common prehospital problem and frequently presents without a clear etiology. Given the dynamic environment of the prehospital setting, there has historically been a varied approach to treating agitation with a heavy reliance on parenteral medications. Newer best practice guidelines recommend the incorporation of oral medications to treat patients experiencing agitation. Therefore, we evaluated the use of oral risperidone in a single system after a change in protocol occurred. METHODS: This was conducted as a retrospective chart review of an urban/suburban Emergency Medical Services system over the period of 8 months. The first day this medication was implemented throughout the service was included. Charts were included for selection if they included risperidone oral dissolving tablet (ODT) as a charted medication. The primary outcome was administration of additional medications to treat agitation. Exploratory outcome measures included acceptance of medication, documented injury to paramedics, documented injuries to patients, scene times, and adverse events that could possibly be linked to the medication. RESULTS: A total of 552 records were screened for inclusion. Risperidone was offered to 530 patients and accepted by 512 (96.6%). Of these 512 patients, the median age of included patients was 39 years old (IQR 29-52 years old) with a range of 18-89 years old. Rescue or additional medications for agitation were required in 9 (1.8%) cases. There were a total of 4 (0.8%) potential complications following administration of risperidone. There were no reported assaults with subsequent injuries to prehospital personnel or injuries sustained by patients reported in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Risperidone ODT was found to be a safe and effective medication to treat mild agitation in a large urban and suburban EMS system. The need for additional medications to treat agitation was rare, and there were no documented injuries to either patients or paramedics.

Individualized Treatment Effects of Bougie versus Stylet for Tracheal Intubation in Critical Illness.

Rationale: A recent randomized trial found that using a bougie did not increase the incidence of successful intubation on first attempt in critically ill adults. The average effect of treatment in a trial population, however, may differ from effects for individuals. Objective: We hypothesized that application of a machine learning model to data from a clinical trial could estimate the effect of treatment (bougie vs. stylet) for individual patients based on their baseline characteristics ("individualized treatment effects"). Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the BOUGIE (Bougie or Stylet in Patients Undergoing Intubation Emergently) trial. A causal forest algorithm was used to model differences in outcome probabilities by randomized group assignment (bougie vs. stylet) for each patient in the first half of the trial (training cohort). This model was used to predict individualized treatment effects for each patient in the second half (validation cohort). Measurements and Main Results: Of 1,102 patients in the BOUGIE trial, 558 (50.6%) were the training cohort, and 544 (49.4%) were the validation cohort. In the validation cohort, individualized treatment effects predicted by the model significantly modified the effect of trial group assignment on the primary outcome (P value for interaction = 0.02; adjusted qini coefficient, 2.46). The most important model variables were difficult airway characteristics, body mass index, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. Conclusions: In this hypothesis-generating secondary analysis of a randomized trial with no average treatment effect and no treatment effect in any prespecified subgroups, a causal forest machine learning algorithm identified patients who appeared to benefit from the use of a bougie over a stylet and from the use of a stylet over a bougie using complex interactions between baseline patient and operator characteristics.

The Pitfalls of Using Pop-Off Valves in Adult Emergency Airway.

BACKGROUND: Although common in pediatric airway equipment, positive-pressure relief ("pop-off") valves are also present on some adult resuscitator bags. These valves are designed to decrease barotrauma but, in doing so, limit the airway pressure provided during manual bag-assisted ventilation. In critically ill adult patients with high airway pressures, these valves can be detrimental and result in hypoventilation and subsequent hypoxemia. CASE REPORTS: In the 7 days after an unannounced introduction of new resuscitator bags with pop-off valves in the emergency department, there were 3 adult patients for whom an open pop-off valve resulted in hypoventilation and hypoxemia. These cases involved both medical and traumatic pathologies. In each case, there was a delay in discovering the change to a resuscitator bag equipped with a pop-off valve. Once the emergency physicians noticed the pop-off valve and closed them, there was significant improvement in ventilation and oxygenation. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Hand-operated resuscitator bags are an essential tool for airway management. These cases represent two main lessons: changing airway equipment without notifying staff is dangerous, and an open pop-off valve will result in inadequate ventilation when patients have high airway pressures, without the tactile feedback of difficult bagging. Emergency physicians should be aware of equipment changes and know to disable the pop-off valve on resuscitator bags if they find them in their departments.

Sedative Dose for Rapid Sequence Intubation and Postintubation Hypotension: Is There an Association?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: For patients with hemodynamic instability undergoing rapid sequence intubation, experts recommend reducing the sedative medication dose to minimize the risk of further hemodynamic deterioration. Scant data support this practice for etomidate and ketamine. We sought to determine if the dose of etomidate or ketamine was independently associated with postintubation hypotension. METHODS: We analyzed data from the National Emergency Airway Registry from January 2016 to December 2018. Patients aged 14 years or older were included if the first intubation attempt was facilitated with etomidate or ketamine. We used multivariable modeling to determine whether drug dose in milligrams per kilogram of patient weight was independently associated with postintubation hypotension (systolic blood pressure < 100 mm Hg). RESULTS: We analyzed 12,175 intubation encounters facilitated by etomidate and 1,849 facilitated by ketamine. The median drug doses were 0.28 mg/kg (interquartile range [IQR] 0.22 mg/kg to 0.32 mg/kg) for etomidate and 1.33 mg/kg (IQR 1 mg/kg to 1.8 mg/kg) for ketamine. Postintubation hypotension occurred in 1,976 patients (16.2%) who received etomidate and in 537 patients (29.0%) who received ketamine. In multivariable models, neither the etomidate dose (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.90 to 1.01) nor ketamine dose (aOR 0.97, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.17) was associated with postintubation hypotension. Results were similar in sensitivity analyses excluding patients with preintubation hypotension and including only patients intubated for shock. CONCLUSION: In this large registry of patients intubated after receiving either etomidate or ketamine, we observed no association between the weight-based sedative dose and postintubation hypotension.

First-Attempt Intubation Success Among Emergency Medicine Trainees by Laryngoscopic Device and Training Year: A National Emergency Airway Registry Study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We compare intubation first-attempt success with the direct laryngoscope, hyperangulated video laryngoscope, and standard geometry video laryngoscope among emergency medicine residents at various postgraduate years (PGY) of training. METHODS: We analyzed prospective data from emergency department (ED) patients enrolled in the National Emergency Airway Registry from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018 using mixed-effects logistic regression to assess the association between PGY of training and first-attempt success by the device. RESULTS: Among 15,204 intubations performed by emergency medicine trainees, first-attempt success for PGY-1, PGY-2, and PGY3+ residents, respectively were: 78.8% (95% CI, 75.0 to 82.2%), 81.3% (79.4 to 83.0), and 83.6% (95% CI, 82.1 to 85.1) for direct laryngoscope; 87.2% (95% CI, 84.2 to 89.7), 90.4% (95% CI, 88.8 to 91.9%), and 91.2% (95% CI, 89.8 to 92.5%) for hyperangulated video laryngoscope; and 88.7% (95% CI, 86.1 to 90.9), 90.2% (95% CI, 88.7 to 91.5%), and 94.6% (95% CI 93.9 to 95.3%) for standard geometry video laryngoscope. Direct laryngoscope first-attempt success improved for PGY-2 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR],1.41; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.82) and PGY-3+ (aOR, 1.76; 1.36 to 2.27) trainees compared to PGY-1. Hyperangulated video laryngoscope success also improved for PGY-2 (aOR, 1.51; 1.1 to 2.05) and PGY-3+ (aOR, 1.56; 1.15 to 2.13) trainees compared to PGY-1. For the standard geometry video laryngoscope, only PGY-3+ (aOR, 1.72; 1.25 to 2.36) was associated with improved first-attempt success compared to PGY-1. CONCLUSION: Each laryngoscopy device class was associated with improvement in first-attempt success as training progressed. The video laryngoscope outperformed the direct laryngoscope for all operator groups, and PGY-1 trainees achieved higher first-attempt success using a standard geometry video laryngoscope than PGY-3+ trainees using a direct laryngoscope. These findings support the conjecture that in adult patients, a direct laryngoscope should not be routinely used for the first intubation attempt unless clinical circumstances, such as the presence of a soiled airway, would favor its success. These findings need to be validated with prospective randomized clinical trials.

The Pediatric Bougie for the First Tracheal Intubation Attempt in Critically Ill Children.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Bougie use during emergency tracheal intubation has not been well studied in children. METHODS: This was a 10-year observational study of pediatric intubations (<18 years of age) in the emergency department (ED) of an academic institution. Bougie training and use are standard in our ED, including for emergency medicine residents. Study data were collected by a combination of charts and video reviews. We compare first-attempt intubation success and procedural complications between pediatric patients with and without bougie use during tracheal intubation in the ED. In addition, we evaluate the independent association of bougie use with first-attempt intubation success using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: We collected data on intubation success and bougie use for 195 pediatric patients over more than 10 years. On the first tracheal intubation attempt, a pediatric bougie was used in 126 patients (65%). Median patient age was 5 years (interquartile range 1.7 to 9) in the bougie group and 1.7 years (interquartile range 0.2 to 5) in the no bougie group. Intubation was successful on the first attempt in 72% of intubations with a bougie versus 78% without a bougie (absolute difference -6%, 95% confidence interval [CI] -19 to 6%); the adjusted odds of first-attempt success with a bougie were 0.54 (95% CI 0.24 to 1.19). A procedural complication occurred for 38% of patients in the bougie group versus 51% in the no bougie group (-13%, 95% CI -27% to 2%). Two neonates, one in each group, experienced a potential injury to the airway or lower respiratory tract. CONCLUSION: In an academic ED where the bougie is commonly used, bougie use in children was not associated with procedural success or complications. Our study suggests that a randomized clinical trial is needed to determine the effect of bougie use during emergency pediatric intubation.

Endotracheal Intubation Strategy, Success, and Adverse Events Among Emergency Department Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To describe endotracheal intubation practices in emergency departments by staff intubating patients early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: Multicenter prospective cohort study of endotracheal intubations conducted at 20 US academic emergency departments from May to December 2020, stratified by known or suspected COVID-19 status. We used multivariable regression to measure the association between intubation strategy, COVID-19 known or suspected status, first-pass success, and adverse events. RESULTS: There were 3,435 unique emergency department endotracheal intubations by 586 participating physicians or advanced practice providers; 565 (18%) patients were known or suspected of having COVID-19 at the time of endotracheal intubation. Compared with patients not known or suspected of COVID-19, endotracheal intubations of patients with known or suspected COVID-19 were more often performed using video laryngoscopy (88% versus 82%, difference 6.3%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.0% to 9.6%) and passive nasal oxygenation (44% versus 39%, difference 5.1%; 95% CI, 0.9% to 9.3%). First-pass success was not different between those who were and were not known or suspected of COVID-19 (87% versus 86%, difference 0.6%; 95% CI, -2.4% to 3.6%). Adjusting for patient characteristics and procedure factors in those with low anticipated airway difficulty (n=2,374), adverse events (most commonly hypoxia) occurred more frequently in patients with known or suspected COVID-19 (35% versus 19%, adjusted odds ratio 2.4; 95% CI, 1.7 to 3.3). CONCLUSION: Compared with patients not known or suspected of COVID-19, endotracheal intubation of those confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 was associated with a similar first-pass intubation success rate but higher risk-adjusted adverse events.

Defining Successful Intubation on the First Attempt Using Both Laryngoscope and Endotracheal Tube Insertions: A Secondary Analysis of Clinical Trial Data.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Successful intubation on the first attempt has historically been defined as successful placement of an endotracheal tube (ETT) using a single laryngoscope insertion. More recent studies have defined successful placement of an ETT using a single laryngoscope insertion followed by a single ETT insertion. We sought to estimate the prevalence of first-attempt success using these 2 definitions and estimate their associations with the duration of intubation and serious complications. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of data from 2 multicenter randomized trials of critically ill adults being intubated in the emergency department or ICU. We calculated the percent difference in successful intubations on the first attempt, median difference in the duration of intubation, and percent difference in the development of serious complications by definition. RESULTS: The study population included 1,863 patients. Successful intubation on the first attempt decreased by 4.9% (95% confidence interval 2.5% to 7.3%) when defined as 1 laryngoscope insertion followed by 1 ETT insertion (81.2%) compared with when defined as only 1 laryngoscope insertion (86.0%). When successful intubation with 1 laryngoscope and 1 ETT insertion was compared with 1 laryngoscope and multiple ETT insertions, the median duration of intubation decreased by 35.0 seconds (95% confidence interval 8.9 to 61.1 seconds). CONCLUSION: Defining successful intubation on the first attempt as placement of an ETT in the trachea using 1 laryngoscope and 1 ETT insertion identifies attempts with the shortest apneic time.

Laryngoscopy and Tracheal Intubation: Does Use of a Video Laryngoscope Facilitate Both Steps of the Procedure?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of the use of a video laryngoscope versus a direct laryngoscope on each step of emergency intubation: laryngoscopy (step 1) and intubation of the trachea (step 2). METHODS: In a secondary observational analysis of data from 2 multicenter, randomized trials that enrolled critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation but did not control for laryngoscope type (video laryngoscope vs direct laryngoscope), we fit mixed-effects logistic regression models examining the 1) the association between laryngoscope type (video laryngoscope vs direct laryngoscope) and the Cormack-Lehane grade of view and 2) the interaction between grade of view, laryngoscope type (video laryngoscope vs direct laryngoscope), and the incidence of successful intubation on the first attempt. RESULTS: We analyzed 1,786 patients: 467 (26.2%) in the direct laryngoscope group and 1,319 (73.9%) in the video laryngoscope group. The use of a video laryngoscope was associated with an improved grade of view as compared with a direct laryngoscope (adjusted odds ratio for increasingly favorable grade of view 3.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.47 to 3.99). Successful intubation on the first attempt occurred in 83.2% of patients in the video laryngoscope group and 72.2% of patients in the direct laryngoscope group (absolute difference 11.1%, 95% CI 6.5% to 15.6%). Video laryngoscope use modified the association between grade of view and successful intubation on the first attempt such that intubation on the first attempt was similar between video laryngoscope and direct laryngoscope at a grade 1 view and higher for video laryngoscope than direct laryngoscope at grade 2 to 4 views (P<.001 for interaction term). CONCLUSIONS: Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, the use of a video laryngoscope was associated both with a better view of the vocal cords and with a higher probability of successfully intubating the trachea when the view of the vocal cords was incomplete in this observational analysis. However, a multicenter, randomized trial directly comparing the effect of a video laryngoscope with a direct laryngoscope on the grade of view, success, and complications is needed.

Clinical predictors of endotracheal intubation in patients presenting to the emergency department with angioedema.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to identify predictors of airway compromise among patients presenting to the emergency department with angioedema in order to develop and validate a risk score to augment clinician gestalt regarding need for intubation. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of emergency department patients with a diagnosis of angioedema. After data extraction they were randomly divided into a training and test set. The training set was used to identify factors associated with intubation and to develop a model and risk score to predict intubation. The model and risk score were then applied to the test set. RESULTS: A total of 594 patients were included. Past medical history of hypertension, presence of shortness of breath, drooling, and anterior tongue or pharyngeal swelling were independent predictors included in our final model and risk score. The Area Under the Curve for the Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was 87.55% (83.42%-91.69%) for the training set and 86.1% (77.62%-94.60%) for the test set. CONCLUSIONS: A simple scoring algorithm may aid in predicting angioedema patients at high and low risk for intubation. External validation of this score is necessary before wide-spread adoption of this decision aid.

Extraglottic device use is rare during emergency airway management: A National Emergency Airway Registry (NEAR) study.

INTRODUCTION: Airway management is a critical component of the management of emergency department (ED) patients. The ED airway literature primarily focuses upon endotracheal intubation; relatively less is known about the ED use of extraglottic devices (EGDs). The goal of this study was to describe the frequency of use, success, and complications for EGDs among ED patients. METHODS: The National Emergency Airway Registry (NEAR) is a prospective, multi-center, observational registry. It captures data on all ED patients at participating sites requiring airway management. Intubating clinicians entered all data into an online system as soon as practical after each encounter. We conducted a secondary analysis of these data for all ED encounters in which EGD placement occurred. We used descriptive statistics to characterize these encounters. RESULTS: Of 19,071 patients undergoing intubation attempts, 56 (0.3%) underwent EGD placement. Of 25 participating sites, 13 reported no cases undergoing EGD placement; the median number of EGDs placed per site was 2 (interquartile range 1-2.5, range 1-31). Twenty-nine (54%) patients had either hypotension or hypoxia prior to the start of airway management. Clinicians reported anticipation of a difficult airway in 55% and at least one difficult airway characteristic in 93% of these patients. Forty-one encounters entailed placement of a laryngeal mask airway (LMA®) Fastrach™, 33 of whom underwent subsequent successful intubation through the EGD and 7 of whom underwent intubation by alternative methods. An additional 10 encounters utilized a standard LMA® device. Providers placed 34 (61%) EGDs during the first intubation attempt. Seventeen EGD patients (30%) experienced peri-procedure adverse events, including 14 (25%) experiencing hypoxemia. None of these patients expired due to failed airways. CONCLUSIONS: EGD use was rare in this multi-center ED registry. EGD occurred predominantly in patients with difficult airway characteristics with favorable airway management outcomes. Clinicians should consider this emergency airway device for patients with a suspected difficult airway.

Comparison of efficacy and frequency of akathisia and dystonia between olanzapine, metoclopramide and prochlorperazine in ED headache patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and frequency of akathisia and dystonia between the dopamine antagonist headache medications olanzapine, metoclopramide and prochlorperazine. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational cohort study of patients presenting to a large urban level one trauma center between 2010 and 2018. Inclusion criteria was age ≥ 18 who presented to the emergency department with a chief complaint of headache who received either olanzapine, metoclopramide or prochlorperazine. The primary outcome was need for rescue medication. Secondary outcomes were receiving medication for either akathisia or dystonia. Logistic regression was used to identify differences between the three cohorts up to 72 h from initial presentation. RESULTS: There were 5643 patients who met inclusion criteria. Olanzapine was the most commonly used drug (n = 2994, 53%) followed by prochlorperazine (n = 2100, 37%) and metoclopramide (n = 549, 10%). After adjusting for age and gender, there were no differences in risk for receiving rescue therapy or developing akathisia or dystonia. CONCLUSION: During initial ED visit and up to 72 h after receiving olanzapine, metoclopramide or prochlorperazine, we found no difference in risk for requiring rescue medication or developing akathisia or dystonia.

The Effect of Ketamine Versus Etomidate for Rapid Sequence Intubation on Maximum Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: The use of induction agents for rapid sequence intubation (RSI) has been associated with hypotension in critically ill patients. Choice of induction agent may be important and the most commonly used agents are etomidate and ketamine. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the effects of a single dose of ketamine vs. etomidate for RSI on maximum Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and incidence of hypotension. METHODS: This single-center, randomized, parallel-group trial compared the use of ketamine and etomidate for RSI in critically ill adult patients in the emergency department. The study was performed under Exception from Informed Consent. The primary outcome was the maximum SOFA score within 3 days of hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients were enrolled in the trial, 70 in the ketamine group and 73 in the etomidate group. Maximum median SOFA score for the ketamine group was 6.5 (interquartile range [IQR] 5-9) vs. 7 (IQR 5-9) for etomidate with no significant difference (-0.2; 95% CI -1.4 to 1.1; p = 0.79). The incidence of post-intubation hypotension was 28% in the ketamine group vs. 26% in the etomidate group (difference 2%; 95% CI -13% to 17%). There were no significant differences in intensive care unit outcomes. Thirty-day mortality rate for the ketamine group was 11% (8 deaths) and for the etomidate group was 21% (15 deaths), which was not statistically different. CONCLUSIONS: There were no significant differences in maximum SOFA score or post-intubation hypotension between critically ill adults receiving ketamine vs. etomidate for RSI.