Airway management is an important skill for all medical trainees to practice, and a unique training event at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine provided an opportunity to do just that.

Co-hosted by ICOM’s Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine Clubs, ICOM’s Advanced Airway Event allowed medical students to practice various airway management techniques. Rotating through stations, students executed a number of medical procedures used in airway management — from bag-valve-mask ventilation to cricothyrotomy. 

Airway management is the practice of evaluating, planning, and using a wide array of medical procedures and devices for the purpose of maintaining or restoring an individual’s ventilation, or breathing. It is an essential skill for clinicians and airway management scenarios can range from basic and non-invasive to advanced, which uses more invasive and specialized techniques.

Approximately 80 student physicians from ICOM participated in the event, as well as around 15 students from Boise State University’s Respiratory Care Program. Additionally, representatives from several medical device companies brought state-of-the-art airway management equipment for students to use.