Transitioning From Anesthesia to Emergency Medicine for Airway Management in Rural Trauma Patients

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Trauma Care
• Airway Management

Background:

• Rural trauma center transitioned airway management from Anesthesiology to Emergency Department (ED) providers.
• This change followed ED growth and the establishment of an EM residency program.
• Previous decades saw Anesthesia manage trauma airway interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the policy change impacted first-pass intubation success rates in trauma patients.
• To compare outcomes between Anesthesiology and EM airway management in trauma activations.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of trauma activations requiring intubation (March 2018 - January 2023).
• Two groups: pre-transition (Anesthesiology) and post-transition (EM).
• Primary outcome: successful first-pass intubation. Secondary outcomes: vital signs, complications.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in first-pass intubation success rates between groups (85.9% vs. 87.9%).
• Both groups achieved 100% intubation success by the second pass.
• No significant differences in secondary outcomes were observed.

Conclusions:

• Transitioning trauma airway management to the ED did not negatively affect first-pass intubation success.
• Rural Level II trauma centers can maintain high airway management standards with ED physician-led care.