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Disclaimer: I am not a nurse - still working on it :D

Can a nurse intubate a patient? I am just curious. I was watching "Trauma: Life in the ER" last night and if a patient was flown in, most times they would arrive already intubated. So I was just wondering who did that... the nurse or the paramedic on the helicopter.

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Specializes in pcu/stepdown/telemetry.

at the hospitals in my area the flight nurses have to be paramedics as well as rn. paramedics do the intubating. usually though it's the resp therapist in the hospital/anesthesia/intensivist

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Disclaimer: I am not a nurse - still working on it :D

Can a nurse intubate a patient? I am just curious. I was watching "Trauma: Life in the ER" last night and if a patient was flown in, most times they would arrive already intubated. So I was just wondering who did that... the nurse or the paramedic on the helicopter.

Both......whoever is closest or having the better day. The nurses are also paramedics also....and now a days already have or is working on a masters.....

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Specializes in ICU.

Nurses could intubate in my area "once upon a time." Now my hospital has made it policy that nurses cannot intubate. I don't know why. Some of us older nurses had to intubate for our ACLS, but now that they have taken away so much of the respiratory stuff in ACLS, maybe that is the reason we can no longer intubate. (?) Only the doctors can intubate now in my hospital.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

Our ACLS still includes intubation, however during a code generally it is done by the RT.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

In the field, either of them.. In my hospital RN's can't intubate. Resp can't intubate either, they just manage the vent.. MD's intubate here..

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Specializes in Critical Care, Nsg QA.

In the hospital, it would depend on the policy of that facility.

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