3 intubations yesterday...all failed. I keep telling myself that this is a very hard skill to learn and its going to take a lot of practice. I voiced my frustrations to a friend also going into EM and he said
"It's easily the most difficult and dangerous procedure we do in the ED. That said, we're what, 2 months into our ER careers? We've got another 4 years of training to iron this skill out, and another 30 or so to perfect it. Sometimes we have to make sure our expectations are in line with our limited amount of experience."
This made me feel a lot better. I guess my concern is that the doc I am working with doesnt give me a whole lotta time to troubleshoot. Once i get in and fumble for about 10 seconds, he immediately takes over to 'show me how to do it.' Its very frustrating because i never really know what i am doing wrong each time. Intubating is a skill that has to be done right, quickly, everytime or else the patient dies. We sedate them then paralyze every muscle in their body. If we do not bag them and 'breathe for them' they die. If we do not get the tube into the right spot and ventilate them, they desaturate and die. Its a stressful 30 seconds and I am trying very hard to not be frustrated with myself for not doing it correctly yet.
But, I have plenty of time to learn...
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