hospital advanced airway management by anaesthesiologists: is there still room for improvement?
GROUND: Endotracheal intubation is an important part of pre-hospital advanced life support that requires training and experience, and should only be performed by specially trained personnel. In Norway, anaesthesiologists serve as Helicopter Emergency Medical Service HEMS physicians. However, little is known about how they themselves evaluate the quality and safety of pre-hospital advanced airway management. METHOD: Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we interviewed anaesthesiologists working in the three HEMS programs covering Western Norway. We compared answers from specialists and non-specialists as well as full- and part-time HEMS physicians. RESULTS: Of the 17 available respondents, most (88%) felt that their continuous exposure to intubations was not sufficient. Additional training was mainly acquired through other clinical practice and mannequin- or cadaver-based skills training. Of the respondents, 77% and 35% reported having experienced difficult and failed intubations, resp
