Learning Curve for Paramedic Endotracheal Intubation and Complications

I worked as a resident at Kitami Red Cross Hospital in 2004-2006. At that time, paramedics in Japan could not legally intubate emergency patients, but the Japanese government legalized intubation by paramedics who have successfully completed the training, which consists of intubating 30 patients in the operating room under the supervision of an anesthesiologist. My boss, Johji Arakawa, was conducting this training and collected some data. I analyzed this dataset and we wrote a paper together with my wife Junko, who was also involved in this training.

The paper was rejected several times by anesthesiology journals because referees couldn’t understand the statistical analysis. Most journals requested submissions in specific Microsoft Word format, and it was such a pain to convert the manuscript to the required format. So I gave up publishing it and the paper became dormant. However, after obtaining an academic job in 2013, I renewed my motivation to publish this piece, and this time I specifically searched for medical journals that accept \(\LaTeX\) manuscripts. I am happy that my effort paid off.