Endotracheal intubation (ETI) and bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation for out-of-hospital airway management in children have not been compared in a controlled trial. In this prospective study, . . .
Endotracheal intubation (ETI) and bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation for out-of-hospital airway management in children have not been compared in a controlled trial. In this prospective study, 830 patients younger than 12 years who required active airway management were randomized to receive BVM alone or BVM followed by ETI (performed by more than 3,000 paramedics from 2 urban rapid-transport emergency medical service systems).
There was no significant difference in survival between the BVM and ETI groups (30% vs. 26%) or the rate of good neurological outcomes (23% vs. 20%). Analysis by type of illness or injury showed that, compared with ETI, BVM significantly improved both survival in the respiratory-arrest and child-maltreatment subgroups an…