This annual workshop and laboratory course uses a fresh cadaver model to help our residents hone their skills in airway management and several rare and challenging saving Emergency Department (ED) procedures. The two-day course offers hands-on experience that focuses on all aspects of airway management, from basic skills to the use of the most advanced rescue airway devices and techniques. The course also teaches residents how to perform a variety of procedures that, while not routinely performed in the ED, are critically important components of for any emergency physician's training. The course uses a variety of models, including fresh cadaver models, porcine tracheas, computerized airway simulations, and traditional mannequins.

The course is initiated with lectures on basic airway anatomy, laryngoscopy, bag-valve mask ventilation, RSI (rapid sequence intubation), and fiber-optic intubation. The residents then participate in small group discussions dealing with difficult airway cases, emphasizing all different issues and controversies in emergency medicine airway management (including pediatrics, trauma, and other special situations).

The first afternoon has multiple small group stations where the residents learn, through hands-on practice, multiple airway rescue devices/techniques. The stations include:

1. Cricothyroidotomy, practiced on pig necks
2. Fiberoptic intubation, using both an airway model & a computer simulation model.
3. Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA™) / LMA Fastrach™, using an airway model
4. LMA CTrach™ (which is not commercially available yet)
5. Combitube™, using a mannequin model
6. GlideScope® Video Laryngoscope, using a mannequin model and video monitors
7. Elastic boogies, using a mannequin model

The second day of the course uses fresh cadavers in the anatomy lab. The morning is dedicated to laryngoscopy skills. Residents intubate 5 different cadavers (each with unique anatomical and laryngoscopic characteristics) multiple times using a variety of techniques. Every intubation is supervised and critiqued by EM faculty. Residents perform 15 -20 endotracheal intubations during this session.

After an intensive laryngoscopy session, the residents practice using various airway rescue devices on the cadaver model. The residents use the Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA™) / LMA Fastrach™, the gum elastic boogie, the Combitube™, and fiberoptic devices.

The course ends with the residents performing rare but crucial emergency procedures on the fresh cadavers:

1. Emergency thoracotomy
2. Chest Tube
3. Cricothyroidotomy
4. Lateral Canthotomy
5. Facial Blocks
6. Diagnostic Peritoneal Lavage

The course receives an overwhelmingly positive response from the residents.

• Course Directors
• Frank Lovaglio, MD
• Victor Pacheco-Fowler, MD
• Jeremy Sperling, MD


• Faculty
• Joel Berezow, MD
• Doodnauth Hiraman, MD
• Jay Lemery, MD
• Ralph Slepian, MD
• Dean Straff, MD