Successful Intubation in Critical Care Patients Should NOT be a Coin Toss!
Szarpak et al. found in their independent prospective randomized clinical study that successful #intubation first-pass success (FPS) by paramedics using a Macintosh laryngoscope was a fraction better than a coin-toss, 51.1%!
This contrasts with 93.3% FPS using the #viescope, a bougie introducer.
Circumstances in which this study was performed requires explanation as it is the first clinical study that clearly demonstrates the superiority of the Vie Scope® over a Mac blade with stylet in adverse #prehospital environments.
The study was conducted during a #covid wave, and all paramedics were wearing FULL BODY #ppe. In addition, they were intubating patients requiring ACTIVE #cpr. Even though they had received only a few hours of training on use of the Vie Scope®, they still achieved a 93.3% FPS in half the time (49sec) compared to 97sec using the Macintosh laryngoscope. All paramedics in this study had been using the Mac blade for years.
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There were NO complications in the Vie Scope® group. Three patients died in the Macintosh group.
This landmark study has shown that with minimal training, practitioners of intubation can achieve nearly 100% intubation FPS – a bar set by many #medical organizations. Despite years of practice, #simulation #training, courses, and so on, paramedics’ use of a ‘difficult’ device such as a Macintosh laryngoscope was as successful as choosing ‘heads’ with a coin flip. This should not be tolerated, but unfortunately, it is.
For years #ems, #emergencymedicine, and #criticalcare healthcare workers have had dealt with #difficultairway using poor equipment in tough circumstances. The push to have EMS use video laryngoscopy (VL) has been a fallacy. Most cannot afford it and VL requires years of frequent practice to become somewhat proficient. Improved VL FPS has not been borne out for everyone. Removal of #endotracheal intubation (ETI), the airway gold standard, instead of figuring out how to achieve successful ETI is a patient disservice.
Successful intubation FPS using the Vie Scope® has EVERYTHING to do with the device itself. The Vie Scope® is EASY to learn and use by anyone for everyone.
The Vie Scope® is the FIRST airway device that will make a significant patient care impact. Once you trial the device, you will know why. We can reach 100% success.
Read the full study here:
https://emsairway.com/2022/01/19/in-recent-study-vie-scope%EF%B8%8F-sets-new-intubation-first-pass-success-benchmark/
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