Prehospital Difficult Airway Identification Tool (PreDAIT) of Carlson et al

Description

Carlson et al reported the PreDAIT (Prehospital Difficult Airway Identification Tool) for identifying a patient at risk for difficult intubation in the prehospital setting. The authors are from Allegheny Health Network, University of Pittsburgh, University of Buffalo and Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services.

Patient selection: prehospital intubation

Predictors for a difficult intubation:

(1) Glasgow coma scale

(2) neck movement

(3) trismus/jaw clenching

(4) ability to palpate landmarks of the neck

(5) fluid in airway (blood, emesis, other)

Parameter	Finding	Points
Glasgow Coma Scale	3	0
	4 to 15	1
neck movement	limited	1
	unlimited	0
trismus	no	0
	yes	1
able to palpate landmarks	no	1
	yes	0
fluid in airway	no	0
	yes	1

total score =

= SUM(points for all of the parameters)

Interpretation:

• minimum score: 0

• maximum score: 5

• A score >= 2 is associated with a difficult intubation.

Performance:

• The area under the ROC curve was 0.68 in the derivation and 0.63 in the validation cohorts.

• Over 70% of cases were correctly classified with score >= 2.

• The score shows good specificity (90%) but low sensitivity (28%).

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Prehospital Difficult Airway Identification Tool (PreDAIT) of Carlson et al

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