Impact of personal protective equipment on prehospital endotracheal intubation performance in simulated manikin.

Abstract Background Tracheal intubation in COVID-19 patients is a potentially high-risk procedure for healthcare professionals. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is recommended to minimize contact with critical patients with COVID-19 infection. This study aimed to primarily examine the effect of PPE use on intubation time and success rate among prehospital healthcare professionals; additionally, we compared intubation times among prehospital health care professionals using PPE with direct laryngoscopy and video laryngoscopy assistance. Methods In this prospective simulation study, we compared the intubation times and success rates among prehospital healthcare professionals who were or were not using PPE. Furthermore, demographic data, previous intubation experience, and previous intubation experience with PPE were recorded. Results Overall time to intubation with PPE use was 51.28 ± 3.89 s, which was significantly higher than that without PPE use (33.03 ± 2.65 s; p  Conclusions PPE use is associated with increased intubation time and decreased success rate. Video laryngoscopy assistance in cases where PPE use is required facilitates faster endotracheal intubation than does direct laryngoscopy assistance.