Reliability of paramedic ratings of laryngoscopic views during endotracheal intubation.

Background: Prior studies have related prehospital endotracheal intubation (ETI) difficulty to paramedic visualization of the vocal cords using the Cormack-Lehane (C-L) scale. However, the reliability of paramedic C-L ratings has not been formally studied.

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of C-L and a more recently described scale, percentage of glottic opening (POGO), when used by paramedics to rate laryngoscopic views during ETI.

An algorithmic approach to prehospital airway management.

Airway management, including endotracheal intubation, is considered one of the most important aspects of prehospital medical care. This concept paper proposes a systematic algorithm for performing prehospital airway management. The algorithm may be valuable as a tool for ensuring patient safety and reducing errors as well as for training rescuers in airway management.