Do We Use A Pre-Intubation Checklist?

Back in April, I attended what has been dubbed ‘the greatest medical conference of all time’ by some of the online critical care community - SMACCGold. As expected, the experience was phenomenal. I found myself in an excited frenzy about the career I am lucky enough to find myself persuing – Emergency Medicine.

Some of the hottest property in #FOAMed and EM/critical care gave talks that were inspiring and educational in equal measure. Watching the speakers perform in the flesh (rather than listening to them on a podcast) with the stunning ‘tribal’ backdrop on the main stage was awesome.

One of the talks that had the biggest impact on me was given by Tim Leeuwenburg. It was during the ‘Airways for All’ session on the third day. Tim, who authors the brilliant kidocs.org website, is a rural/prehospital GP with a keen interest in airway management (he is the proud owner of 5 surgical airways!). He was debating the mighty Minh Le Cong on the issue of pre-intubation checklists. Tim was arguing the case for and Minh against. You can find a fantastic blog post from Tim regarding checklists here.

Case 1: Who's afraid of the big bad Wolff?

The patient…

21 year old girl. Clean bill of health. 1 hour of unrelenting palpitations that stopped her being able to concentrate on writing her dissertation. On standing to get a cup of tea she feels very dizzy and like she is about to collapse. She lays down and calls for her boyfriend who phones an ambulance.

15 minutes later the palpitations stop and she feels back to normal… just before the paramedics arrive. She is still taken to the ED to be checked out.