Paddy

Don't be discouraged. Like many other pre-hospital issues, one must look (including me, you, and the person who jumped ya) at patient outcome as well as many other things. RSI is done all over Texas, sometimes with appropriate QA, sometime not. Texas was firmly against the original, National Scope of Practice due to its global approach to procedure. (one size fits all) RSI is appropriate in some settings. It is dangerous but then again, so are central lines, thrombolytics (yuck), morphine, TTJI, and manual defib. for that matter. The question is; Does it work and improve patient outcome. Keep on challenging yourself and others because if the question does not get asked the answer will never come. Intubation itself is being measured and debated. It is not a matter of someone wanting to steal away our tools. The outcome, I predict will be a "urinate or get off the pot" conclusion. Do it, do it well or you will be killing your patient and held accountable. (Medical Directors, mostly)

I get a kick out of this conversation, every time. The typical urinating match over Canadian vs. US, North vs. South, Air vs. ground etc. My point first. RSI and it's efficacy is not measured by practice or initial education, it is measured by QA. "Does it work or is it necessary in this system" Quotes like "it always works" or it is too dangerous" are simply without merit. Measure it, then tell me it is good or bad, dagerous or not or whether it works in your urban or rural setting. Funny that our most cherished CCRN's come out of nursing school without any intubations. Some physician's with less than I'm seeing posted here. Wanna know why? I'll let someone else assist me in this but the bottom line is carefully measured skills that benefit the final outcome of the patient, not how long your tube is. ha ha ha