Paramedic Endotracheal Intubation Success Rates Before and After an Intensive Airway Management Education Session

Introduction Advanced airway management by paramedics is potentially life-saving, but carries a significant risk to patient safety and can be associated with poor clinical outcome if performed incorrectly. Previously, our team had found that an intensive education intervention demonstrated an improvement in paramedic performance on a written exam and increased confidence in airway skills. This study measured intubation success and the number of attempts per patient before and after intensive paramedic airway management education intervention. Methods A 10-hour mandatory course was taken by all advanced life support (ALS) paramedics in a provincial system (2009/04-07, n=~395). The course was done during semi-annual continuing education Emergency Health Services (EHS) in-services. These day-long courses were held in person over four months. The electronic charting database was queried for intubation attempts and successful placements 12 months before the training, during the four months of training, and 12 months post-training. The primary outcome is the difference in success rates between the before (pre-intervention) and after (post-intervention) periods. The secondary outcome is the number of attempts per patient. Stationarity of success in pre- and post-periods was tested. The model was fit tested using Maximum Likelihood regression, and variables were tested using the Wald test. Results A sample size of 476 intubation attempts in each of the pre- and post-periods was required to detect a 10% improvement with the pre-intervention success of 60%. A total of 1421 intubation attempts occurred; 674 pre-intervention, 604 post-intervention, and 143 during teaching. Seven attempts were excluded (success unknown). Intubation success rates improved, from 0.68 (95% CI 0.64-0.71) to 0.75 (95% CI 0.72-0.78); a difference of 0.076 (95% CI 0.03-0.12) (p = 0.001). Intubation success rates in the pre-intervention and post-intervention periods were found to be static. A significant decrease was found in the number of attempts per patient in the post-period (p = 0.005). Conclusion Intubation success increased from 68% to 75% and was maintained over the 12-month post-period. There is a potential that judgment may also have improved, based on the decreased number of attempts per patient. Limitations include missing values, paramedics' self-reported number of attempts, and the definition of what is considered to be an attempt. In addition to previously demonstrated improvements in paramedic exam and scenario performance, this airway education intervention appears to have made a significant improvement to patient outcomes. These findings support the value of such education interventions to improve performance.