MONDAY, July 25, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that many U.S. paramedics are not receiving enough experience in endotracheal intubation -- the insertion of emergency breathing tubes into the windpipe.
"We need to find better ways to train paramedics to perform this very difficult procedure or find better and simpler ways to manage the airway," said study lead author Dr. Henry E. Wang, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Using 2003 patient data, his team found that two-thirds of Pennsylvania paramedics performed intubation less than three times per year, and 40 percent performed no intubations at all.
Intubation involves placing a clear, flexible plastic tube into a patient's windpipe to deliver oxygen to the lungs.
Paramedic students in the United States must perform only five intubations before graduation, the study noted. In contrast, emergency medicine residents are required to perform 35 intubations, while anesthesiologists must complete 50 such procedures prior to graduation.
The study appears in the August issue of Critical Care Medicine.
More information
The National Institutes of Health has more about endotracheal intubation.
