Study objective: To determine the frequency of complications and outcomes of urgent intubations in general hospital units.
Design: Prospective, observational, cohort study.
Setting: University-affiliated hospital.
Patients: 150 patients who underwent tracheal intubation in the general care units.
Interventions: A standardized data collection form was used prospectively to record events at the time of intubation. Patient outcomes were extracted from the medical record.
Measurements and main results: The complication rate was 27%. The most common complications were multiple attempts (9% required>2 intubations) and esophageal intubation (9%). The complication rate for elective intubation (22%) was similar to the complication rate for emergent intubations (27%). Of patients intubated in the general care units, 52% survived and 33% of these were discharged. There was no significant difference (P=0.46) in survival between the patients intubated electively (59%) and emergently (50%). There was no significant difference (P=0.63) in survival between patients with (48%) and without complications (54%).
Conclusions: Endotracheal intubation in general hospital units carries a high rate of complications, and patients who are intubated in general hospital units have a high mortality.