COVID-19 Intubation Safety: A Multidisciplinary, Rapid-Cycle Model of Improvement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the health care industry to develop dynamic protocols to maximize provider safety as aerosolizing procedures, specifically intubation, increase the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. The authors sought to create a quality improvement framework to ensure safe practices for intubating providers, and describe a multidisciplinary model developed at an academic tertiary care facility centered on rapid-cycle improvements and real-time gap analysis to track adherence to COVID-19 intubation safety protocols. The model included an Intubation Safety Checklist, a standardized documentation template for intubations, obtaining real-time feedback, and weekly multidisciplinary team meetings to review data and implement improvements.