Disposable stainless steel vs plastic laryngoscope blades among paramedics.
BACKGROUND
Several studies have been published in the literature about intubation methods, but little is available on intubation equipment used in this setting. This is the first prehospital comparison of disposable plastic vs disposable stainless steel laryngoscope blades used by paramedics.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to compare prehospital intubation success rates on first attempt and overall number of attempts to obtain intubations using disposable plastic laryngoscopes blades vs disposable stainless steel laryngoscope blades.


METHODS
A retrospective prehospital cohort study was conducted during two 3-year periods. Two-way contingency table and χ(2) test were conducted to determine if there was a difference between the 2 types of blades. A proportional odds model with calculated 95% confidence interval (CI) and odd ratios were then calculated.


RESULTS
A total of 2472 paramedic intubations were recorded over the 6-year period. The stainless steel single-use blades had a first attempt success rate of 88.9% vs 78.5% with plastic blades (P = .01; odds ratio, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.17-3.41). The stainless steel single-use laryngoscope blade had a lower number of attempts to successful intubation than the plastic blade (88.8% vs 74.3%, respectively) (P < .01; odds ratio, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.34-2.00).


CONCLUSIONS
In the prehospital setting, stainless steel disposable blades were superior to plastic disposable blades in first attempt and overall number of attempts to intubation. Until further research is done, we recommend use of stainless steel blades for intubations in the prehospital setting by paramedics.
Dos Santos
Frank D
FD
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Emergency Medicine, New Brunswick, 08901, USA.
Schnakofsky
Roberto
R
Cascio
Anthony
A
Liu
Junfeng
J
Merlin
Mark A
MA
D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004209:Disposable Equipment; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation; D020704:Laryngoscopes; D010969:Plastics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013193:Stainless Steel
D010969:Plastics; D013193:Stainless Steel