A study to evaluate the role of experience in acquisition of the skill of orotracheal intubation in adults

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To evaluate the role of experience in acquisition of skill of orotracheal intubation in adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective randomized study was conducted on 307 patients of either sex, belonging to ASA grade I and II (aged 18-60 years) posted for surgery under general anaesthesia. The patients were subjected to DL and ETI procedure, which was performed by five different groups of participants. Group 1 consisted of first-year resident of anaesthesiology with experience of less than 10 intubations, group 2 for second-year resident, group 3 for third-year resident, group 4 for senior resident and group 5 for consultant. Ease of mask ventilation, time taken for intubation, number of attempts, success rate, and ease of intubation were assessed for all the groups. RESULTS: Categorical variables were analysed using Chi-square test. For all statistical tests, a P value less than 0.05 was taken as a significant difference. Maximum difficulty in mask ventilation was encountered by group 1 anaesthesiologist, that is, in 69.2% of the patients. Group 1 took maximum time to intubate, that is, 47.98 ± 31.54 sec and least time was taken by group 5 anaesthesiologist (9.55 ± 6.93) sec. First attempt success rate was least in group (80.0%). Group 1 had success rate of 96.9%, whereas rest all groups had 100% success. CONCLUSION: Skill of mask ventilation and intubation and time taken for intubation grossly improves with increasing experience. Minimum of 25 intubation attempts should be required by an anaesthesiologist resident in elective scenario to achieve 100% success rate in our study.