Emergency airway management by residents

AimTo examine the success rates of emergency department airway management by resident physicians in Japan.MethodsWe conducted an analysis of a multicentre prospective registry (Japanese Emergency Airway Network Registry) of 13 academic and community emergency departments in Japan. We included all patients who underwent emergency intubation performed by postgraduate year 1 to 5 transitional or emergency medicine residents (resident physicians) between April 2010 and August 2012. Outcome measures were success rates by the first intubator, and by rescue intubator, according to the level of training.ResultsWe recorded 4,094 intubations (capture rate, 96%); 2,800 attempts (2,800/4,094; 68%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 67%–70%) were initially performed by resident physicians. Overall success rate on the first attempt was 63% (1,767/2,789; 95%CI, 61%–64%); the rate improved over the first 3 years of training before reaching a plateau (Ptrend