Clinical Research Directory

An Educational Intervention to Improve the Success of Intubation in Newborns Using a Video Laryngoscope by Reducing the Time the Procedure Takes.

This research focuses on one of the most common problems in newborn medicine: breathing difficulties. Breathing problems are the most common reason for admission to our neonatal unit at the National Maternity Hospital. When a baby has serious breathing difficulty, inserting a breathing tube to place them on a ventilator can be lifesaving. A breathing tube must be placed through the vocal cords into the windpipe (trachea). A device called a laryngoscope is placed in a patients mouth to allow the doctor to see the vocal cords and insert the tube correctly. The skill of placing this breathing tube (intubation) is important for doctors and specialists to learn so that they can confidently perform it in an emergency. In the past, doctors had more opportunities during their training to learn and practice this with supervision from seniors. In recent years, babies, thankfully, need to be intubated less frequently and doctors working hours are better regulated. As a result, junior doctors have less chances to perform this skill. There is a need to improve how we teach the procedure of intubating babies to doctors in training to meet the needs of trainees today. The investigators want to perform a study to help teach doctors in training how to perform intubation of a newborn using a video laryngoscope. The team are looking to assess if showing a short educational video to the doctor and team just before performing an intubation using a video laryngoscope will reduce the time the procedure takes. This is called a "Just-in-Time" video. The investigators aim to demonstrate a benefit by performing a randomised control trial. This means that when a baby requires intubation as decided by their treating doctors, the team will be randomly allocated to view a "Just-in-Time" video before performing the intubation or not. The investigators will then compare the two groups to see if there is a difference in the total time the procedure takes.