Intubation with a double-lumen left-sided endotracheal video tube has been the standard procedure for nearly five years in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Copenhagen University Hospital, but no systematic evaluations have been done. For a 12-month period ending November 2017, data were collected from 579 consecutive patients, scheduled for thoracic surgery with a requirement for one-lung ventilation; 35 anaesthetist trainees (nurses or doctors) (287 cases), 27 nurse anaesthetists (239 cases) and 8 anaesthesiologists (53 cases) managed intubation with a double-lumen tube. Time to intubation was relatively equal across healthcare professionals with a mean time of 53 (anaesthetist trainees), 40 (nurse anaesthetists) and 63 (anaesthesiologists) seconds. The shorter time for nurse anaesthetists and prolonged time for anaesthesiologists might be due to the small number of cases and the fact that anaesthesiologists carried out 60% of the cases, where a third attempt was needed, and 25% of cases for the anaesthesiologists were assessed to a Cormack-Lehane grade of 3 or 4 compared to 6% for anaesthetist trainees and 5% for nurse anaesthetists. The rate of successful placement in the first attempt of placing the double-lumen left-sided endotracheal video tube was high, which emphasises that intubation with a double-lumen left-sided endotracheal video tube is suitable for use by different healthcare professionals.
Keywords: Airway management; Anaesthetists; Double-lumen endotracheal tube; Evaluation; Lung separation; Nurse anaesthetists; One-lung ventilation; Professional classifications; Time to intubation.