r/emergencymedicine • u/Radiant_Alchemist • 22d ago

Advice Will Video Laryngoscopy become the norm?

I love VL. They make standard laryngoscopes look brutal. They're less traumatizing, they give a better view, they have a better first-pass success. Sure you need to learn direct laryngoscopy but let's say in 5 years from now will they be used as routine in OR and ER intubations? Or will they be saved for hard cases?

I've been told that the equipment tends to suck and that we won't have VL as available as in the current department that I'm working so I should stick to Macintosh and McCoy.

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u/gamerEMdoc 22d ago

Its the norm now. Older literature showed similar first past success rates with VL versus DL but VL was more time-consuming. But as time went on and more trainees gravitated towards VL and got less experience with DL, the literature has now shifted and shows a significantly better first pass success with VL compared to DL.