A Program to Improve the Quality of Emergency Endotracheal Intubation

Objective: To assess the results of a quality improvement (QI) project designed to improve safety of emergency endotracheal intubation (EEI). Design: Single center prospective observational. Setting: 16-bed intensive care unit. Participants: Nine pulmonary/critical care fellows. Interventions: For 3 years, EEI performed by the medical intensive care unit team were analyzed to identify interventions that would improve quality of the procedure. By segmental process analysis, the procedure of EEI was subjected to iterative change. Major components of process improvement were development of a combined team approach, a mandatory checklist, use of crew resource management (CRM) tactics, and postevent debriefing. Quality analysis and improvement included training of fellows using scenario-based training (SBT) with computerized patient simulator (CPS) to improve mechanical skills of intubation and team leadership. Fellows received 15 sessions of SBT with CPS using a combined checklist and team approach before assuming team leadership position during real-life EEI. Measurements: For a 10-month period, fellows carried digital voice recorders to EEI; which, when combined with recording of continuous oximetry and BP monitoring were used to assess the quality of EEI. Main Results: 128 EEI were performed of which 101 had full data recorded. Complications were 14% severe hypoxemia (