Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Emergency airway management represents an event with high acuity but unpredictable frequency and therefore presents a challenge for adequate staffing. Given circadian and seasonal variations, we hypothesized that the majority of emergency airway events happen after normal working hours and during the winter months.
METHODS:
A retrospective analysis of 1,482 intubations by an emergency airway team over a 3-y period was performed. The data were obtained from hospitalized patients who required emergency airway management in a large academic medical center. A database of emergency airway consultations was analyzed for intubation time and date information, as well as geographic location within the hospital.
RESULTS:
A greater percentage of emergency intubations occurred during day shift hours (7
CONCLUSIONS:
Emergency airway service utilization is highest during daytime hours, with seasonal variations composed of higher consults in the winter and lower consults in the summer.
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