February 2026; papers of the month

Welcome back to February's Papers of the Month! We start this month looking a the right place to perform a prehospital anaesthetic. Traditionally we've been taught it should be somewhere with 360-degree access to allow the greatest safety, which means intubating in an ambulance and other locations are a no-go. But does it actually reduce complications, and what about other locations and situations? This paper explores whether location is associated with outcomes, or whether it might actually be a reasonable and sometimes advantageous to forgo that 360 access. We've talked a lot about pad position in cardiac arrest recently, mainly in the context of DSD, but what about initial pad position? Our second paper may be even more important than DSD! This one takes a look at initial pad position, antero–lateral versus antero–posterior placement and asks whether initial pad position influences return of spontaneous circulation. Finally, we take on one of the most debated topics in emergency and critical care airway management, with choice of induction agent. We look at a brilliant RCT which compares Etomidate to Ketamine and their haemodynamic stability. This one challenges some widely held assumptions, in an attempt to provide some much-needed clarity in what we should be using. Once again we'd love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom! Simon & Rob