Examination of patterns in intubation by an emergency airway team at a large academic center: higher frequency during daytime hours
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 6, 2026

Image Acquisition using Portable Sonography for Emergency Airway Management
Published on: September 28, 2022
M Christopher Adams1, Ulrich Schmidt, Dean R Hess
1Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine.
Background:
Emergency airway management represents an event with high acuity but unpredictable frequency and therefore presents a challenge for adequate staffing. Given circadian and seasonal variations, we hypothesized that the majority of emergency airway events happen after normal working hours and during the winter months.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis of 1,482 intubations by an emergency airway team over a 3-y period was performed. The data were obtained from hospitalized patients who required emergency airway management in a large academic medical center. A database of emergency airway consultations was analyzed for intubation time and date information, as well as geographic location within the hospital.
Results:
A greater percentage of emergency intubations occurred during day shift hours (7 am to 7 pm) compared with night shift hours, 57% and 43%, respectively (P < .01). The monthly frequency of intubations was not uniformly distributed across the year (P < .01). The greatest percentage of intubations was performed in February (10.9%), with the lowest being recorded in August (4.7%).
Conclusions:
Emergency airway service utilization is highest during daytime hours, with seasonal variations composed of higher consults in the winter and lower consults in the summer.
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