A new study from The Ohio State University College of Medicine shows that the way paramedics help people breathe before they get to the hospital is changing. The research, published in JAMA Network Open , looks at how emergency medical services (EMS) in the United States manage their patients' airways. Airway management is used in life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest , trauma and respiratory failure.
"Paramedics and emergency medical technicians are usually the first to provide lifesaving medical care for critically ill patients ," said Henry Wang, MD, lead author and clinical professor of emergency medicine. "It's important to understand EMS airway management practices so hospitals know the best method to transition patients from the ambulance and manage any potential complications." The study analyzed EMS data from the ESO Data Collaborative, one of the largest EMS electronic health systems in the United States.
The research team looked at all EMS patient encounters from 2011 to 2022 where advanced airway management was attempted, including endotracheal intubation (ETI) and supraglottic airways (SGA). For more than 40 years, ETI—a difficult technique where a flexible tube is placed through the mouth and vocal cords into the patient's lungs—has been the dominant technique to help patients breathe. But in the past 10 years, there has been a sizable increase in the use of SGA—simpler devices that sit above the vocal cords—for cardiac arrest patients.
Now,.