A retrospective analysis of the intubations performed during 5 years of helicopter emergency medical service in Amsterdam.
BACKGROUND
Different skilled personnel perform prehospital airway management, by far one of the most challenging skills with major consequences upon failure.


METHODS
The setting for this study was the helicopter emergency medical service at the Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective analysis of all medical charts of intubated trauma patients in the period from May 1995 to May 2000. We focused on intubation reasons and conditions.


RESULTS
In 43 of 653 patients (7%) the process of intubation was recorded as being difficult, leading to 5 failed intubations (11.6%). In 432 of 653 trauma victims (66%), general anaesthesia was required before intubation. Forty (9%) of these patients died, most soon after arrival in the hospital. The clinical condition of 221 (34%) patients was so poor that they did not require additional drugs for intubation; 73% of those patients died, with two-thirds dying at the accident site.


CONCLUSIONS
The rate of difficult intubation in this analysis is low (7%). The overall airway failure (11.6%) is the same as seen in the literature when sedation and relaxation are used. An adult trauma victim with a Revised Trauma Score of 0 has a very poor prognosis of survival.
Slagt
C
C
Department of Anaesthesiology, General Hospital De Heel Zaans Medical Center, Zaandam, The Netherlands. slagt.c@deheel.nl
Zondervan
A
A
Patka
P
P
de Lange
J J
JJ
D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*