Intubation separates the men from the rest.
The rest?
The boys, the girls, the nurses, the basics, the fire fighters, the police, the garbage men sanitation engineers, the postal workers, the rest. The non-medics. The rest. The people who do not intubate. Them. This is the great claim to fame of paramedics. Yet, if you look at all of the people listed in the rest, almost all of them are paid significantly more than paramedics. This is like being a Vice President – we are given this fancy title, but we have to accept a big cut in pay. As paramedics, we don’t seem to have a problem with this, as long as we can still intubate. Even if it is only about once a year, in a good year.
Basic EMTs resuscitate patients more often than that.
Intubation separates the men from the rest.
Yes, the role of gender, or manliness, is often worked into conversations about intubation. I do not know why, since I have never used my genitalia in any airway maneuver, at least not on the job.
Even when considering the possible ways to improve intubation, paramedic = intubation seems to be taken for granted. Look at all of the research that shows a lack of intubation success by paramedics. The list of studies is longer than this post, so I won’t list them in this post.
Something needs to be done.
Yes.
Not because it is a QA/QI/CYA check-off box.
Not because it makes us look bad.
Not because it might be taken away from us.
Because our patients deserve better.
Paramedic ≠ Intubation.
Intubation ≠ Airway Management.
.
[…] rates of intubation. I have written about some of these studies here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. You know why they are called alternative airways? They are used as a […]