Intubation Rates following Prehospital Administration of Ketamine for Acute Agitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Ketamine is a fast-acting, dissociative anesthetic with a favorable adverse effect profile that is effective for managing acute agitation as a chemical restraint in the prehospital and emergency department (ED) settings. However, some previously published individual studies have reported high intubation rates when ketamine was administered prehospitally. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to determine the rate and settings in which intubation following prehospital administration of ketamine for agitation is occurring, as well as associated indications and adverse events. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, OpenGrey, Open Access Theses and Dissertation, and Google Scholar from the earliest possible date until 13/February/2022. Inclusion criteria required studies to describe agitated patients who received ketamine in the prehospital setting as a first-line drug to control acute agitation. Reference lists of appraised studies were screened for additional relevant articles. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. Synthesis of results was completed via meta-analysis, and the GRADE tool was used for certainty assessment. RESULTS: The search yielded 1466 unique records and abstracts, of which 50 full texts were reviewed, resulting in 18 being included in the analysis. All studies were observational in nature and 15 were from USA. There were 3476 patients in total, and the overall rate of intubation was 16% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8%-26%). Most intubations occurred in the ED. Within the studies, the prehospital intubation rate ranged from 0% to 7.9% and the ED intubation rate ranged from 0 to 60%. The overall pooled prehospital intubation rate was 1% (95% CI = 0%-2%). The overall pooled ED intubation rate was 19% (95% CI = 11%-30%). The most common indications for intubation were for airway protection and respiratory depression/failure. CONCLUSIONS: There is wide variation in intubation rates between and within studies. The majority of intubations performed following prehospital administration of ketamine for agitation took place in the ED.

Pre-hospital guidelines for CPR-Induced Consciousness (CPRIC): A scoping review.

Background: CPR-Induced Consciousness is an emerging phenomenon with a paucity of consensus guidelines from peak resuscitative bodies. Local prehospital services have had to implement their own CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines. This scoping review aims to identify prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines and compare or contrast their management options. Objective: The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and compare as many prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines as feasible, highlight common management trends, and discuss the factors that might impact CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines and the management trends identified. Design: To search for prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines, a bibliographical search of five databases was undertaken (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, and CINAHL plus). Also included was a grey literature search arm, comprised of four search strategies: 1. Customised Google search, 2. Hand searching of targeted websites, 3. Grey literature databases, 4. Consultation with subject experts. Results: Our search extracted 23 prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines and one good practise statement from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Of the 23 prehospital guidelines available, we identified 20 different ways of treating CPR-Induced Consciousness. Midazolam was the most frequently used drug to treat CPR-Induced Consciousness (14/23, 61%), followed by Ketamine (11/23, 48%) and Fentanyl (9/23, 39%). Conclusion: Prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines are both exceptionally uncommon and vary substantially from each other. This has a flow-on effect towards data collection and only serves to continue CPR-Induced Consciousness's relatively unknown status surrounding both knowledge of, and the effect CPR-Induced Consciousness treatment has on cardiac arrest outcomes.