A taxonomy of key performance errors for emergency intubation

Study objective: Currently the videographic review of emergency intubations is an unstructured, qualitative process. We created a taxonomy of errors that impede the optimal procedural performance of emergency intubation. Methods: This was a prospective, observational, study reviewing a convenience sample of deidentified laryngoscopy recordings of emergency department intubations that were qualitatively flagged before the study as demonstrating suboptimal technique. These videos were coded for the presence of 13 predetermined performance errors. Our primary outcome was the incidence of each of these specified errors during emergency intubation. Errors fell into 3 categories: errors of structure recognition during laryngoscope insertion, errors of vallecula manipulation, and errors of device delivery. Results: A total of 100 intubation attempts were reviewed. The most common error was inadequate lifting force with the blade tip in the vallecula which lowered the percent of glottic opening, occurring in 45% of the attempts. The least common performance error was the premature removal of the laryngoscope during bougie placement, occurring in only 9% of the videos. Conclusion: We developed a taxonomy of 13 performance errors of laryngoscopy. Further study is warranted to determine how to best incorporate these into emergency airway training and the airway review process.