Perceived Versus Actual Time of Prehospital Intubation by Paramedics

Introduction: Situational awareness is essential during emergent procedures such as endotracheal intubation. Previous studies suggest that time distortion can occur during intubation. However, only in-hospital intubations performed by physicians have been studied. We aimed to determine whether time distortion affected paramedics performing intubation by examining the perceived vs actual total laryngoscopy time, defined as time elapsed from the laryngoscope blade entering the mouth until the endotracheal tube balloon passes the vocal cords. Methods: For this retrospective study we collected prehospital intubation data from a suburban, fire department-based emergency medical services (EMS) system from January 5, 2021–May 21, 2022. The perceived total laryngoscopy time was queried as a part of the electronic health record. Video laryngoscopy recordings were reviewed by a panel of experts to determine the actual time. Patients 18 years old who underwent intubation by paramedics with video laryngoscopy were included for analysis. The primary outcome was the difference between actual and perceived total laryngoscopy time. Secondary analysis examined the relationship between high time distortion, defined as the highest quartile of the primary outcome, and patient age, paramedic years of experience, perceived presence of difficult anatomy, excess secretions, use of rapid sequence intubation, and multiple intubation attempts. We conducted descriptive analysis followed by logistic regression analysis, chi-square tests, and Fisher exact tests when appropriate. Results: A total of 122 intubations were collected for analysis, and 10 were excluded due to lack of video recording. Final analysis included 112 intubations. Mean actual laryngoscopy time was 50.0 seconds (s)(95% confidence interval CI 43.7–56.3). Mean perceived laryngoscopy time was 27.8 s (95% CI 24.7–31.0). The median difference between actual and perceived time was 18 s (interquartile range 6–30). We calculated high time distortion as having a difference greater than 30 s between actual and perceived laryngoscopy time. None of the secondary variables had statistically significant associations with high time distortion. Overall, we show that the paramedic’s perception of total laryngoscopy time is significantly underestimated even when accounting for paramedic experience and perceived airway difficulty. Conclusion: This study suggests that time distortion may lead to an unrecognized prolonged procedure time. Limitations include use of a convenience sample, small sample size, and potential uncollected confounding variables.