Parkland's 12-Minute Tracheotomy: Is It Reproducible?

Tracheotomy is a procedure in which an incision is made on the anterior aspect of the neck to access the trachea, where a stoma is created to serve as either independent airway or as a site of insertion for a cannula. Surgeons must be proficient in this technique. The purpose of this paper is to reproduce, with slight modifications, the Parkland 12-minute checklist tracheotomy. A quality-improvement initiative was designed. The primary outcome variable was the time required by a resident to perform a tracheotomy. Time was recorded from incision to presence of a capnography wave. Sixteen patients (11 males, 5 females; mean age, 60.87; age range, 38-89) were included. The average time was 11.50 minutes. Factors related to prolonged time included bleeding and thyroid gland in the midway. The employment of the Parkland checklist proved to be reliable, efficient, and a safe guide to perform a tracheotomy in a teaching setting.