Improving airway care for critically ill children before they reach the hospital
1/2 – Pediatric Prehospital Airway Resuscitation Trial
This project compares three ways paramedics help children breathe—bag-and-mask, intubation, or a supraglottic airway—during emergencies like cardiac arrest, trauma, or severe breathing failure.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ohio State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbus, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11187235 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If your child becomes critically ill before reaching the hospital, paramedics may need to secure their airway to get oxygen to the lungs. This project enrolls children 0–11 years old who need emergency airway management and assigns one of three common approaches (bag-valve-mask only, bag-valve-mask plus intubation, or bag-valve-mask plus a supraglottic device). The team will account for differences by age and type of emergency and will use adaptive methods to reduce the number of children needed. The goal is to determine which approach keeps children safer and preserves brain and heart function.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Children aged 0–11 who experience prehospital cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, or major trauma and require emergency airway management by participating EMS teams.
Not a fit: Children who do not require airway intervention, older adolescents and adults, or those treated only after hospital arrival would not be eligible and would not directly benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Results could help paramedics choose the safest airway method in emergencies, potentially reducing brain injury and death in children.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research in adults has shown mixed results and pediatric data are limited, so this large randomized pediatric effort is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Columbus, UNITED STATES
- Ohio State University — Columbus, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Henry E. — Ohio State University
- Study coordinator: Wang, Henry E.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.