[Airway Management In Intensive Care Patients]

Many physicians are working in intensive care and are not additionally anaesthesiological experienced. The situation having to perform an emergency in intubation is often feel anxious. Significant complications, such as severe hypoxemia (25%), life-threatening cardiovascular events (40%) or cardiac arrest (2%) may occur during intubation on ICU. The physician must have a clear strategy in preparation and implemention of emergency intubation. It is equally important to perform an alternative airway management when intubation is difficult.In the last 15 years we became aware of this problem and established clear guidelines and algorithms. Drug innovations, technical innovations and new workflows improve complications and mortality rates and provide security. This article describes the current innovations and study results for intubation of criticall ill patients.