Survival of trauma patients who have prehospital tracheal intubation without anaesthesia or muscle relaxants: observational study.

In the United Kingdom, it is current practice for paramedics to perform tracheal intubation on trauma patients when the airway is compromised and basic airway manoeuvres have failed. Paramedics in Britain never use anaesthetic drugs or muscle relaxants to achieve intubation. Anecdotal experience shows that patients who can be intubated without the use of drugs have a poor prognosis. We investigated mortality in a population of trauma patients who were intubated before reaching hospital without anaesthetic drugs being used.