Clinical Solutions provides the AHA Basic Airway course to understand and prepare for any issues during procedures involving the patient’s airway.

Any dentist performing sedation or providing care to a sedated patient should be able to provide airway management and ventilation for a patient encountering respiratory distress. The goal of the basic airway course is to educate the practitioner in basic airway assessment via history and physical assessment of the patient and to review relevant anatomy, physiology, and equipment. The practitioner will learn the motor skills necessary to initiate basic airway management with regards to relieving obstruction, insertion of airway adjuncts, mask ventilation, and intubation. Motor skills will be developed under supervision utilizing simulation which will include instruction in, review of and individual hands-on practice with basic pre-sedation assessment, monitoring and rescue airway management. Participants will complete a post-course evaluation of their airway skills.

Course Objectives:

• Describe basic airway anatomy

• Review basic pulmonary physiology and understand the effects of sedation on respiration

• Review basic airway exam

• Identify patients with an abnormal pre-sedation airway evaluation and how this affects sedation risk

• Understand the role of monitoring in respiratory surveillance including observation, auscultation, pulse oximetry and end-tidal CO2 monitoring

• Describe clinical situations in which oxygen, bag-valve-mask ventilation or intubation may be needed, and review various airway-related emergency situations that may occur with sedated patients, including laryngospasm, foreign-body obstruction, emesis and aspiration, and bronchospasm

• Demonstrate understanding of indications for utilization of airway equipment and describe sizing and placement for the following: oxygen, stethoscope, bag-valve-mask, oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airways, laryngeal mask airway (LMA), endotracheal tube (ETT), bougie, stylet, laryngoscope; glidescope, Yankauer suction

• Review basic techniques of ventilation using simulated experiences

• Review basic techniques of intubation using simulated experiences with LMA, ETT

• Demonstrate confirming tube placement and ventilation using chest rise and EtCO2

Our Basic Airway Management Courses are available at your facility (4person minimum) throughout the State of Florida