Emergency intubation practices in a tertiary teaching hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia: A prospective observational...

Intubation is an important competency for emergency doctors. Emergency patients are often unstable, with undifferentiated conditions. There is little time to prepare these patients prior to intubation and so ED intubation may differ from intubation in intensive care units and operating theatres. The present study aims to describe the characteristics of emergency intubation after an administrative policy change within a tertiary teaching hospital in Jakarta, allowing non-anaesthetists to perform intubation in the ED.

Prospective data were collected regarding patients of all age groups who were intubated at the ED of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Jakarta, from February 2018 to January 2019. Patient characteristics, intubation attempts, medications used, complications, and disposition were recorded in a self-reported airway registry based on the Australian and New Zealand Emergency Department Airway Registry (ANZEDAR) form.

During the 12-month study period, 231 patients, or 41.5% of ED intubated patients were enrolled in the study, and there were 268 intubation attempts on these enrolled patients. The first-pass success rate was 207 out of 231 patients, or 89.6%, with anaesthetist (88.9%), better than emergency doctors (55.4%). Complications were reported in 51 patients, or 22.0%, with desaturation and hypotension being the most common. Thirty-three patients, or 14.3%, died in the ED before being transferred to another unit.

The first-pass success rate is comparable with international data. Non-anaesthetic physicians must improve their experience to achieve a favourable success rate. The data on complications highlight the need for improvement in Indonesian ED intubation practices.