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Steve Haywood
Former Respiratory Therapist working to de-mystify the ventilator through hands-on workshops and online education. Additional interests include HFNC in CHF and COPD, Medical Education, and Tupperware.
The Pre-brief
If you are the team leader during a cardiac arrest, intubation should be low on your priority list. Intubation during a cardiac arrest has been shown to INCREASE mortality in both pre-hospital and in-hospital settings. As a team leader, if you go to the head of the bed to intubate the patient you lose focus on other important aspects of CPR such as good quality compressions, early defibrillation, and finding reversible causes of PEA.
References
- Hasegawa K, Hiraide A, Chang Y, Brown DF. Association of prehospital advanced airway management with neurologic outcome and survival in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. JAMA. 2013;309(3):257-266.
- Andersen LW, Granfeldt A, Callaway CW, et al. Association Between Tracheal Intubation During Adult In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest and Survival. JAMA. 2017;317(5):494-506.
