Background and objective: The study aimed to evaluate and improve airway management in the prehospital setting, i.e. physicians working on board ambulances. A quality control programme focusing on anaesthesia was instituted to improve the time taken to perform endotracheal intubation.

Methods: All consecutive patients requiring tracheal intubation were prospectively analysed before (first period) and after the training programme focusing on anaesthetic protocols for tracheal intubation (second period). The number of attempts at laryngoscopy, the time taken to achieve tracheal intubation, the difficulties encountered and the related complications of the anaesthetic technique were recorded. At the end of the first period, the results were reported to the whole staff of the unit and the anaesthesia protocols were then modified by introducing succinylcholine into the induction sequence, as part of a training programme.

Results: Two-hundred-and-eighty patients were evaluated (97 in the first period, 183 in the second). All patients were successfully intubated in both periods. The percentage of difficult intubations (as assessed by the physician) was lower in the second period (20 versus 35%, respectively; P < 0.01). The success rate at the first attempt was significantly higher (74% [68–80] 95% CI versus 55% [45–65] 95% CI, P < 0.01) and the duration of intubation was significantly shorter in the second period than in the first (1.4 ± 3.2 vs. 4.1 ± 6.7 min, respectively; P < 0.001). The incidence of complications (hypoxaemia, laryngospasm, bronchospasm) was lower in the second period (15 versus 31%, P < 0.01).

Conclusions: The time to perform tracheal intubation can be improved by the introduction of succinylcholine into the prehospital anaesthetic protocol. Rapid sequence induction should be taught as a way of improving tracheal intubation in the prehospital setting.