Respiratory Cloud Clinical Skills Library

Clinical knowledge review

Contraindications

Use these educational prompts with current orders, protocols, patient assessment, facility policy, and supervising-clinician direction.

Skill

Oral Endotracheal Intubation

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Relative contraindications Factors requiring individualized risk-benefit assessment, added precautions, or a modified approach. View list

Relative contraindications

Use individualized risk-benefit assessment, added precautions, or a modified approach as authorized for the patient and setting.

  • A predicted difficult airway, severe physiologic instability, or high aspiration risk may require an awake or otherwise modified approach with experienced airway personnel and additional resources.

Sources

Supporting sources include peer-reviewed research, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, professional standards, and foundational respiratory care references, as applicable to the skill.

  1. Ahmad I, El-Boghdadly K, Iliff H, et al. Difficult Airway Society 2025 guidelines for management of unanticipated difficult tracheal intubation in adults. Br J Anaesth. 2026;136(1):283-307. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2025.10.006. PMID:41203471.
  2. Apfelbaum JL, Hagberg CA, Connis RT, et al. 2022 American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Management of the Difficult Airway. Anesthesiology. 2022;136(1):31-81. doi:10.1097/ALN.0000000000004002. PMID:34762729.