Emergency department airway management before and after an emergency medicine residency

To determine whether the start of an Emergency Medicine (EM) training program affects the appropriateness, timeliness, and safety of Emergency Department (ED) intubations, all ED intubations performed 12 months before and after the start of an EM residency were reviewed. In addition, all patients intubated within 12 h after being admitted through the ED were reviewed. We found that all ED intubations before and after the start of a residency program were deemed appropriate. Of patients intubated after admission, 13 of 20 (65%) were felt to have warranted intubation while in the ED for the pre-residency group, compared with 9 of 29 patients (31%) for the post-residency group. There were no differences between the complication rates of these groups. We conclude that an EM residency program did not increase the number of inappropriate intubations or complications, and reduced the number of patients who required but did not receive intubation in the ED.