
This lecture refers to the Awake Intubation Lecture
I've been asked, who should be intubated awake. To answer that question, we first must discuss who actually requires intubation. If you wait until the patient is apneic, then of course you can't use awake intubation. The idea is to intubate before the patient stops breathing.
In Ron Walls' airway manual and in his class, he gives the following reasons for intubation:
Crash-a patient who is dead or near dead
Can't Protect Airway
Can't Maintain Ventilation/Oxygenation
Expected decline in Clinical Status
Now some of these make sense and some not so much
Here are my reasons to intubate:
Crash-for me this is any apneic patient
Can't Protect Airway-this one is good, a patient with pooling secretions or obtundation with vomiting buys plastic
Possible Loss of Airway-angioedema, anaphylaxis, neck trauma. These are good reasons to intubate and usually earlier is better and safer.
Oxygenation/Ventilation issues for me mean you intervene. But this doesn't necessarily mean intubation, if the patient has a reversible problem, put them on Non-invasive instead of intubating. See the podcast.
So it all comes down to the last reason
Expected decline-this should be the reason for many ED intubations. If the patient has O2/CO2 issues and they will be getting worse, then consider intubation.
Supply/Demand Imbalance-Last reason, not discussed as often in the ED is severe metabolic acidosis or shock where the lungs are causing a huge metabolic demand in a patient without much supply.
So who can be intubated awake? Any patient except the crash airway can be intubated awake. If you think they are a difficult airway, temporize with NIV while you topically anesthetize and then do the patient awake while they keep breathing.
Who is a difficult airway, there are few good answers.
THe LEMON rule also coined by the Walls crew is probably as good as any:
Look at head and neck
Evaluate 3-3-2
Mallampati
Obstruction
Neck Mobility
see here for more
I also discuss a new possible indication for awake intubation
Additional New Information
More on EMCrit
- EMCrit 194 – Definitive Emergent Awake Intubation with George Kovacs(Opens in a new browser tab)
- EMCrit 247 – The Dissociated Awake Intubation with my buddy, Ketamine(Opens in a new browser tab)
- Emergency Awake Topicalized (EAT) Intubation – An Awake Intubation Update
- EMCrit 145 – Awake Intubation Lecture from SMACC
Additional Resources
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- EMCrit 358 – Dizziness Makes Me Dizzy Still! – GRACE-3 and more with Peter Johns - September 24, 2023
- EMCrit RACC Lit Review – September 2023 - September 17, 2023
- EMCrit – Lessons from a Master Trainer – Cliff Reid on Training Team Performance - September 11, 2023
Unbelievably helpful even for the layman, I will certainly be looking into the podcast as well as bookmarking as my research into EMS is disproportionately high at times and unlike the CJ stuff I research for writing, I have not sought out a degree/certification (yet). Thank you for sharing!