Assessing Intubation Competence During Neonatal Fellowship Training.

Abstract

* Abbreviations: NPM — : neonatal-perinatal medicine NTI — : neonatal tracheal intubation The ability to provide competent airway management and respiratory support for compromised neonates necessitates critically important skills. Fortunately, only 4% to 10% of newborns need positive pressure ventilation immediately after birth, and appropriate bag mask positive pressure ventilation is often sufficient.1 When neonatal tracheal intubation (NTI) is needed, either for resuscitation in the delivery room or for more chronic ventilation, competence with NTI is a lifesaving skill. Opportunities to intubate in the neonatal period have decreased over time for a number of reasons. Routine transient intubation to suction meconium from the trachea is no longer recommended, even when an infant is depressed at birth.2 Laryngeal mask airway, which requires little training to place, is now available to help support some infants’ respiratory needs for an intermediate period of time, either eliminating the … Address correspondence to Patricia R. Chess, MD, MS, Department of Pediatrics, Golisano Children’s Hospital and University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 601 Elmwood Av, Rochester, NY 14642. E-mail: patricia_chess{at}urmc.rochester.edu