Incidence and Duration of Continuously Measured Oxygen Desaturation During Emergency Department Intubation.

Study Objective: Desaturation during intubation has been associated with serious complications, including dysrhythmias, hemodynamic decompensation, hypoxic brain injury, and cardiac arrest. We seek to determine the incidence and duration of oxygen desaturation during emergency department (ED) rapid sequence intubation.

Methods: This study included adult rapid sequence intubation cases conducted between September 2011 and July 2012 in an urban, academic, Level I trauma center ED.