SURVEY OF OUT-OF-HOSPITAL EMERGENCY INTUBATIONS IN THE FRENCH PREHOSPITAL MEDICAL SYSTEM - A MULTICENTER STUDY

Study objective: To determine the clinical characteristics of endotrac heal intubation in the French emergency prehospital medical system and compare these data with those of other systems. Methods: This study w as performed in Ile de France (Paris Region) in mobile ICUs staffed by physicians. This prospective, descriptive study involved completion o f a questionnaire by the operator just after endotracheal intubation w as performed. Results: Six hundred eighty-five (99.1%) of 691 consecut ive prehospital intubations were performed successfully in the field. The orotracheal route was used in 96.0%, and no surgical approaches su ch as cricothyroidotomy were used. Mechanical complications occurred i n 84 patients, at a rate of 15.9% for nonarrest patients and 8.1% for arrest patients. A wide variety of sedation protocols were used. Diffi cult intubations (10.8%) were comparable in incidence to the number se en in US emergency departments, not US prehospital systems. By the sam e token, intubation success rates (99.1%) were comparable to US EDs an d much higher than US prehospital results. Conclusion: The characteris tics of French prehospital airway management differ significantly from those of other countries. These differences may be explained by diffe rences in approach to prehospital management rather than differences o f skill.