A National Emergency Airway Registry for children: landscape of tracheal intubation in 15 PICUs

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23328260/ Smart checklist implementation for pediatric tracheal intubations in the ICU- multicenter study: SMART PICU https://reporter.nih.gov/search/kUT5X1FdwEy1THilMXTlxg/project-details/10736244 Akira Nishisaki, M.D., a pediatric critical care physician in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, has dedicated his career to improving the quality of care and outcomes for critically ill or injured children experiencing respiratory failure, the leading cause of death in infants and children. With funding from AHRQ, Dr. Nishisaki has designed and implemented easily modifiable quality improvement processes that make pediatric airway management safer during tracheal intubation—a common but high-risk procedure that helps with breathing when the airway is blocked or damaged. Dr. Nishisaki’s AHRQ research began with the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children (NEAR4KIDS), a quality improvement database that documents outcomes of tracheal intubations based on patient, provider and practice factors. Findings from the NEAR4KIDS database served as the foundation for his future research. Using NEAR4KIDS registry data, Dr. Nishisaki’s team created the airway bundle checklist, a tool medical teams could easily use at the patient’s bedside before, during and after tracheal intubation. Later projects focused on specific quality improvement interventions for procedures that occur during tracheal intubation, including video laryngoscope, apneic oxygenation and bag mask ventilation. All three interventions reduced adverse events and continue to be used throughout the NEAR4KIDS network of pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). Dr. Nishisaki’s current grant, Smart Checklist Implementation for Pediatric Tracheal Intubations in the ICU-Multicenter Study: SMART PICU, aims to update and digitize the airway bundle checklist developed with his second AHRQ grant. Dr. Nishisaki serves as chair of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network, the largest nonprofit pediatric ICU clinical research network. He accredits his successful track record and ability to lead the PALISI network to the support he has received from AHRQ. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5628113/