I recently spoke at a symposium at the Greater NY Hospital Assoc's with the title: Controversies in Critical Care. I debated Paul Mayo, MD on the topic of whether paralytics should be used for ICU emergent intubations. Of course, I took the pro side of the debate. Dr. Mayo based his con side on an amazing study that came out of his ICU at LIJ hospital in NY.

Here is the abstract of that study:

Seth Koenig, MD; Viera Lakticova, MD*; Abhijeth Hegde, MD; Pierre Kory, MD; Mangala Narasimhan, DO; Peter Doelken, MD and Paul Mayo, MD

The Safety of Emergency Endotracheal Intubation Without the Use of a Paralytic Agent

Here is some literature you may want to cast a more informed vote:

Mort on Complications of Repeated Laryngoscopic Attempts

Here is the article I wrote with Rich Levitan on Preoxygenation for Intubation:

* Weingart, S. Levitan, R. Preoxygenation and Prevention of Desaturation During Emergency Airway Management (In Press, For Review Only)

Update

* Annals ATS. First published online 26 Feb 2015 as DOI: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201411-517OC Neuromuscular Blockade Improves First Attempt Success for Intubation in the Intensive Care Unit: A Propensity Matched Analysis Jarrod M Mosier , John C Sakles , Uwe Stolz , Cameron D Hypes , Harsharon Chopra , Josh Malo , and John W Bloom    Read More: http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201411-517OC#.VPN3bOFGxsk

* BMC Anesthesiol. 2014 Jan 1;14:39

Need an audio only version:

Mp3 of the Paralytic Debate (right click and choose save as)

Now on to the Podcast...