Internal Medicine · 17 h ago
Polish HEMS study describes airway strategies and handover survival
A retrospective registry study of 8,980 adults treated by Poland’s physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service from 2020 to 2024 examined airway-management strategies and survival to hospital handover. Endotracheal intubation was the most common approach; the unadjusted findings do not establish that one airway device is superior.
- ETI was the most common advanced airway strategy.
- Nearly one-third were not alive at hospital handover.
- Unadjusted associations cannot establish device superiority.
Researchers analysed registry data for 8,980 adults who received endotracheal intubation (ETI), a supraglottic airway (SGA), or both during Polish helicopter emergency medical service missions between 2020 and 2024. Patients were grouped by cardiac arrest and trauma status. The primary outcome was being alive at hospital handover; for cardiac arrest, this required return of spontaneous circulation. Analyses were univariate and did not adjust for patient or treatment factors.
Cardiac arrest accounted for 41.9% of cases and trauma for 41.2%. Overall, 2,950 patients (32.9%) were not alive at handover, including those transferred during ongoing CPR. Ground EMS was present before HEMS arrival in 87.4% of cases. HEMS-performed ETI was used in 49.8%, EMS-performed ETI in 22.6%, and SGA followed by ETI in 19.0%. In non-traumatic cardiac arrest, sequential SGA-to-ETI did not differ significantly from HEMS-performed ETI. SGA as the final airway device was associated with higher unadjusted odds of not being alive at handover than ETI-based strategies.
The retrospective design, lack of adjustment, and absence of detailed severity and treatment-indication data limit interpretation. The associations do not demonstrate device superiority or support changing airway practice on their own.
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Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine: Advanced airway management practice patterns and short-term survival in Poland’s national physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service, 2020–2024: a retrospective observational study ↗This is an automated AI-condensed summary that has not yet been reviewed by an editor. Always consult the full item at the original source.