GlideScope VL Improves Success of Urgent Intubation by Critical Care Physicians

Use of video laryngoscopy (VL) results in improved glottic views, fewer intubation attempts, and higher intubation success in both operating room and emergency department (ED) patients. Less is known about performance characteristics of VL during urgent inpatient intubations performed in other settings. Critical care physicians are increasingly asked to manage airways in hospital settings outside the operating room and ED, and maximizing first-pass success is important since multi-attempt intubations are associated with higher rates of adverse peri-intubation events, including esophageal intubation and hypoxia.

Investigators randomized 117 intensive care unit patients requiring urgent intubation to a first attempt with either GlideScope VL o…