Airway Management

In the backcountry, where hospitals are likely many miles away and help isn’t “just around the corner,” airway management becomes a high-stakes priority. After all, the statistics are against the patient. Without an open, clear airway, that patient has a zero percent chance of survival.

Whether it’s a fall, an allergic reaction, choking, or a drowning, keeping the airway open is a life and death proposition. Wilderness medicine demands quick thinking, decisive action, and a solid grasp of airway basics, because you’re the first, and perhaps only, responder.

This post brings you up to speed on airway management basics with a focus of first employing the simplest and least invasive methods for opening the airway.

What Is the Airway?

The airway is a tunnel connecting the mouth and nose to the lungs. It ends at the alveoli, which are the tiny air sacs in the lungs that facilitate the exchange of gases, primarily oxygen and carbon dioxide. As long as this tunnel remains open, a person can breathe. If the tunnel collapses or is blocked at any point, breathing ceases or is restricted to some degree.

Healthy humans maintain an open airway by holding their head upright, swallowing their secretions, controlling their tongue, coughing, spitting, and otherwise emptying the tunnel of everything but air. Whenever the airway collapses due to illness or injury or is blocked by solids or liquids “going down the wrong pipe” and getting stuck there, medical intervention is required. That’s where you, the emergency medical technician (EMT), or someone else who’s received the relevant training, must step in to clear the airway.

The interventions used by the EMT can be divided into Basic (simpler and less invasive) and Advanced (more complex and invasive).

Basic Methods for Clearing the Airway

When someone can’t breathe or is struggling to do so, you should use the simplest, least intrusive method necessary to open the airway. Basic methods include the following: (more…)