Airway & Breathing
Thirty-seven lessons on airway assessment, oxygenation, and ventilation before the hospital. Topics include bag-mask technique, adjuncts, waveform capnography, difficult-airway planning, and confirmation after an advanced airway. Device choice stays on local protocol.
37 lessons
Each lesson is 15 minutes or less, including a self-check drawn only from that lesson. A passed quiz is saved on this device.
Effective BVM Ventilation
10 min
Two-person bag-mask ventilation: positioning, adjuncts, mask seal, modest tidal volume, and troubleshooting when saturation does not improve.
Start lesson →Waveform Capnography: The Gold Standard
12 min
Continuous waveform capnography for tube confirmation, CPR quality, ROSC clues, and displacement after movement — not a single color-change check.
Start lesson →Failed Oxygenation: DOPE-S
10 min
A structured DOPE-S check when oxygenation fails after an advanced airway: displacement, obstruction, pneumothorax, equipment, stacked breaths, then a different plan.
Start lesson →Difficult Airway Anticipation
12 min
Anticipating a difficult airway before the first attempt: external clues, Plan A/B/C including oxygenation rescue, and why repeating the same failed look is not a plan.
Start lesson →Asthma & COPD Crisis Ventilation
12 min
Ventilation in obstructive lung disease: prolonged exhalation, modest volumes, auto-PEEP, shark-fin capnography, and a silent chest as a critical finding.
Start lesson →Supraglottic Airways in the Field
10 min
Supraglottic airways as primary or rescue devices: sizing, waveform confirmation, and reassessment after every patient move.
Start lesson →Post-Intubation Care
12 min
Care after a successful intubation: waveform confirmation, securing depth, ventilation rate, blood pressure, and rechecking after packaging.
Start lesson →Oxygen Titration
10 min
Oxygen as a drug: who needs high-flow immediately, COPD without the hypoxic-drive myth, and disease-specific saturation targets for ACS, stroke, ROSC, and TBI.
Start lesson →CPAP & Noninvasive Ventilation
12 min
When CPAP or NIV helps pulmonary edema or COPD work of breathing, who should not receive a mask, and how to recognize failure.
Start lesson →Preoxygenation & Apneic Oxygenation
10 min
Preoxygenation before RSI or laryngoscopy: positioning, a two-person mask seal, apneic oxygenation as an adjunct, and stopping when saturation falls.
Start lesson →OPA & NPA Adjuncts
10 min
Selecting, sizing, and seating OPAs and NPAs so bag-mask ventilation works, including gag, midface trauma, and when an adjunct is the wrong tool.
Start lesson →Foreign-Body Airway Obstruction
10 min
Mild versus severe choking, the 2025 back-blow then thrust cycle, infant and pregnancy variants, and switching to CPR if the patient becomes unresponsive.
Start lesson →Pediatric Airway Differences
12 min
Pediatric airway anatomy and time: occiput, obligatory nose breathing, gentle bagging, and why respiratory failure precedes most pediatric arrests.
Start lesson →Tracheostomy Emergencies
12 min
A failing tracheostomy: oxygenate the stoma, suction or change the tube, and do not treat a plugged cannula as simple COPD.
Start lesson →Front-of-Neck Access
12 min
Cannot-intubate-cannot-oxygenate: state CICO explicitly, last-resort front-of-neck access only if trained and authorized, and waveform confirmation of whatever is in the neck.
Start lesson →Airway Suction
10 min
Large-bore suction that is ready before laryngoscopy: vomit, blood, and when suction itself delays oxygenation.
Start lesson →Ear-to-Sternal-Notch Positioning
10 min
Ear-to-sternal-notch positioning with blankets, ramps, and the stretcher so bag-mask and laryngoscopy can succeed in obese, pregnant, or barrel-chest patients.
Start lesson →Video Laryngoscopy in the Field
10 min
Video laryngoscopy as Plan A when trained: screen discipline, bougie, attempt limits, and returning to bag-mask or an SGA instead of identical failed looks.
Start lesson →Bougie Use in the Field
10 min
The bougie as a change of plan: tracheal clicks, hold-up, railroading the tube, and stopping if the introducer advances into a quiet esophagus.
Start lesson →Drowning: Airway & Ventilation First
10 min
Drowning as hypoxic arrest: scene safety, suction, rescue breaths with CPR (not compression-only), and not using Heimlich as a lung-drain ritual.
Start lesson →Smoke Inhalation and the Airway
10 min
Inhalation injury timing: soot, voice change, burns around the mouth, high-flow oxygen, and a destination that can manage a swelling airway.
Start lesson →Stridor: Croup vs Epiglottitis vs FBAO
10 min
Sorting stridor into croup-like, epiglottitis-like, and foreign-body obstruction: calm positioning, what not to place in the throat, and destination.
Start lesson →Delayed Sequence Intubation Framing
10 min
Delayed sequence intubation as dissociation to allow preoxygenation — only if protocol names it — not a ketamine shortcut around an airway exam or RSI.
Start lesson →Respiratory Arrest With a Pulse
10 min
Pulse without breathing: bag at about 10 breaths per minute, watch for loss of pulse, and do not treat it first as cardiac arrest.
Start lesson →Mainstem Intubation Recognition
10 min
Recognizing a right-mainstem intubation: depth at the teeth, unilateral chest rise, and withdrawing the tube without calling it a pneumothorax.
Start lesson →Airway Attempt Limits
11 min
Counting laryngoscopy attempts, oxygenating between them, changing one variable, and stopping when the same blade is failing.
Start lesson →Angioedema and the Airway
12 min
Progressive lip, tongue, or floor-of-mouth swelling as a time-critical airway: oxygenate, limit attempts, and go to a facility that can perform a surgical airway.
Start lesson →Ramping the Obese Airway
11 min
Ramping a high-BMI patient so ear, sternal notch, and glottis align instead of attempting laryngoscopy on a flat mattress.
Start lesson →Cricoid Pressure & Gastric Distention
10 min
Why routine cricoid pressure is no longer recommended, how rapid bagging distends the stomach, BURP versus Sellick, and decompressing gastric distention.
Start lesson →Pediatric Work of Breathing
12 min
The pediatric assessment triangle: appearance, work of breathing, and circulation — tiring as an emergency, and supporting ventilation before a precise label.
Start lesson →Soiled Airway and Aspiration
11 min
Blood and vomit in the pharynx: positioning, large-bore suction, and oxygenation as the priority — not passing a tube through a soiled airway.
Start lesson →Unrecognized Esophageal Intubation
12 min
No sustained EtCO₂ means the tube is not in the trachea: condensation and breath sounds can mislead; remove the tube and reconfirm after every move.
Start lesson →The Physiologically Difficult Airway
12 min
The physiology behind a difficult intubation: hypoxia, hypotension, acidosis, and right-heart failure — treat those before RSI so induction does not cause arrest.
Start lesson →Home Ventilator Failure
11 min
Alarming home ventilator: oxygenate through the trach, separate leak from obstruction, and do not change modes you were not trained to use.
Start lesson →Laryngectomy vs Tracheostomy
10 min
Laryngectomy versus tracheostomy: the mouth may not connect to the lungs. Oxygenate the neck stoma until you know which airway you have.
Start lesson →The Airway in Pregnancy
11 min
Pregnancy airway: faster desaturation, aspiration risk, ear-to-sternal-notch position, and left uterine displacement after about 20 weeks.
Start lesson →Reading Capnography Waveforms
12 min
Waveform shapes: a square wave, a shark fin, a rising baseline, and a sudden flat line. Each shape changes what you do next.
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