Flight team management of in-place endotracheal tubes.
BACKGROUND
Unintended misplacement or removal of the endotracheal tube (ETT) complicates the care of up to 18% of intubated patients. This project analyzed the incidence of such complications in patients transported by a flight program.


METHODS
9-month analysis of all intubated patients transported by the flight team.


RESULTS
340/926 patients transported were intubated. One extubation was unplanned and no patients were delivered to the receiving hospital with an esophageal or endobronchial ETT placement. After initial examination, 19/241 ETTs placed before flight team arrival were repositioned. Rates of misplacement on arrival at the receiving hospital and of unplanned extubation were significantly lower than those reported in the EMS or critical care literature.


CONCLUSIONS
Flight teams have very low rates of unplanned extubation or undetected ETT misplacement when transporting intubated patients.
Frakes
Michael A
MA
STAR/Hartford Hospital, 80 Seymour St, P.O. Box 5037, Hartford, CT 06102-5037, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003237:Connecticut; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data