Adequate lung sliding identification is not influenced by the level of academic or ultrasound training

Rapid confirmation of the adequacy of endotracheal intubation is critical in the field of emergency medicine (EM). Methods confirming endotracheal tube (ET) position should have accuracy near 100%. Studies confirming ET position using lung sliding (LS) identification were done by physicians with extensive ultrasound (US) training using sometimes lengthy examination. These conditions are not easily reproduced in the emergency department. Our primary objective was to compare the accuracy of EM physicians with different levels of academic and US training to correctly identify presence or absence of LS on random short sequences of lung US. Our secondary objective was to determine if results were better when participants had the choice to abstain themselves in uncertain cases.