Course Prework
The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care™ focuses exclusively on the airway challenges posed by critically ill inpatients. This advanced course is designed for intensivists and for hospitalists who are responsible for emergency airway management of acute inpatients.

Build mastery and confidence in:     
  • How to predict a difficult airway and prevent a failed airway
  • When - and when NOT - to use medications
  • How to perform an awake intubation
  • Tube exchange and extubation of the difficult airway
  • Practical strategies in crisis management and human factors
Featuring a dynamic and interactive learning environment, the Course emphasizes airway assessment and decision-making to build the capacity to manage all airway situations — and to do so with great confidence. Read More

View attendance policy in effect for 2022 courses: Click here

Upcoming Dates and Locations

Minneapolis, MN
September 23 ‐ 25, 2022
Register

Course Fees:

Regular Tuition:
$1,600 USD
Gold Rate Tuition:
$1300 USD
For Physician Assistants, Advanced Practice Nurses, Nurses & Respiratory Therapists
Silver Rate Tuition:
$1,200 USD
For Residents, Fellows, and SCP Health Medical Staff

Cancellation Policy

2022 COVID-19 Cancellation Policy

If Airway Management Education Center (AMEC) is required to cancel a course due to Federal or State COVID-19 restrictions or other safety concerns, all attendees will receive a 100% refund. Alternatively, registrants may transfer to another course at no cost.

For cancellations initiated by the registrants, the standard Cancellation Fee of $100 will apply.

There will be no reschedule fees in 2022.

No refunds will be granted to those who do not attend the Course without having made prior arrangements for cancellation or transfer.

A true highlight is the engagement of the faculty and their willingness to share their experience and tricks. While the hands-on sessions were valuable for getting to touch and work with the different equipment, interacting with the faculty during these sessions was one of the highest yield elements of the course.

Attendee, Denver, 2021

Amazing course! Every doctor involved with airway management should take this course. I can clearly assess my strengths and my weaknesses, I feel well prepared to approach the most challenging airways. The hands-on experienced is key to this course! Thank you for a well-organized and enlightening course!

Norma S., DO Houston, TX

You guys knocked it out of the park! Not only was the course highly informative and empowering, but fun and enjoyable as well.

Christopher Battaglia, MD. Buffalo, NY

I loved the warmth and passion of the instructors. Great group and very accessible. Easily one of the best, most practical and fun CME courses I have had in a long time.

Jennifer Mark, MD. Roanoke, VA

Highlights include: 

  • Front of neck access / cricothyrotomy
  • Code Airway™ stations
  • Preparation for challenging acute inpatient scenarios, including:
    • Upper airway obstruction
    • Airway management in the massively obese patient
    • Tracheostomy issues, including accidental dislodgement
    • Agitated hemodynamically unstable patient who self-extubates
    • The bleeding, traumatized, and vomit-filled airway
    • The can’t intubate/can’t ventilate situation
  • Instruction by a world-class faculty of airway experts
  • Dynamic and interactive learning environment

 

Endorsed By:

Hands-on in Crucial Airway Techniques:

  • Percutaneous and surgical cricothyrotomy
  • Video laryngoscopy
  • Awake intubation
  • Flexible bronchoscopy and laryngeal mask ventilation
  • Optically enhanced laryngoscopy
  • Extraglottic devices
  • Flexible endoscopic intubation
  • Pediatric airway skills
  • Techniques for the obese patient

 

 

 

Tuition Includes:
Course textbook, The Walls Manual of Emergency Airway Management (© 2018 Wolters Kluwer), and The Airway Card™.

Accreditation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of SCP Health and Airway Management Education Center (AMEC). SCP Health is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA CME Credit

SCP Health designates this live activity for a maximum of 21.25 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Schedule Download PDF

2020 Typical Course Schedule (final schedule distributed on-site)

Day 1

6:30 - 7:30 AM

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 - 8:00 AM

Introduction/Setting the Scene

8:00 - 9:00 AM

Essential Skills in Airway Management

9:00 - 9:15 AM

Fiberoptic Tour of the Airway

9:15 - 9:30 AM

Break

9:30 - 10:00 AM

Difficult Airway Assessment / Difficult Anatomy

10:00 - 11:15 AM

Dangerous Physiology in Emergency Airway Management

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Workshops I:
Hands-on: Essential Techniques in Airway Management

Hands-on: Topical Anesthesia, Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy, Video Laryngoscopy

12:15 - 1:15 PM

Panel Lunch
(box lunch provided)

1:15 - 2:15 PM

Workshop I:
Hands-on: Essential Techniques in Airway Management

Hands-on: Topical Anesthesia, Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy, Video Laryngoscopy

2:15 - 3:00 PM

RSI Pharmacology

3:00 - 3:15 PM

Break

3:15 - 5:15 PM

Workshops II:
Hands-on: Tips and Tricks (More Essential Techniques)

Hands-on: Combining Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy and Video Laryngoscopy or EGD

Day 2

6:30 - 7:30 AM

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 - 9:30 AM

Workshops III:
Hands-on: Emergency Surgical Airway

Hands-on: Soiled/Trauma Airway

Workshop: Airway Ultrasound

Workshop: Special Populations (Pediatrics, OB, Neuro)

9:30 - 9:45 AM

Break

9:45 - 11:45 AM

Workshops IV:
Hands-on: Emergency Surgical Airway

Hands-on: Soiled/Trauma Airway

Workshop: Airway Ultrasound

Workshop: Special Populations (Pediatrics, OB, Neuro)

11:45 AM - 1:00 PM

Lunch on Own

1:00 - 2:00 PM

Failed Airway

2:00 - 2:30 PM

Extubation and Exchange Catheters

2:30 - 2:45 PM

Break

2:45 - 5:15 PM

Code Airway™ Simulations

Day 3

6:30 - 7:30 AM

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 - 8:30 AM

Extubation and Airway Exchange Catheters

8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Workshops IV:

Discussion: Post-Op Head and Neck, Tracheal Lesions and Stents

Hands-on: Extubation and Exchange Catheters

10:30 - 11:00 AM

Final Points and Pearls

11:00 - 11:30 AM

Wrap Up: Course Take-Home Messages, Interactive Exam

Excellent overall, incredible teaching staff. This course is a must for all CCM practitioners.
Fredy Toiber, MD
Portland, Oregon
Amazing course! Every doctor involved with airway management should take this course. I can clearly assess my strengths and my weaknesses, I feel well prepared to approach the most challenging airways. The hands-on experienced is key to this course! Thank you for a well-organized and enlightening course!
Norma S., DO
Houston, Texas
I have been in clinical practice as a pulmonary/critical care physician for 23 years, and this is the best (and most applicable) CME class that I have ever taken. The faculty was outstanding. They were extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and they never made me feel uncomfortable while learning new skills. I strongly recommend this course to any provider whose scope of practice includes airway management.
John B. Krueger, MD
Hollywood, Florida
The faculty were incredibly approachable, I enjoyed hearing their experiences and appreciate them sharing their unique approaches to difficult situations. Thank you for making this course available to APNs!
Claire Clouse, APRN
Carmel, Indiana
"You guys knocked it out of the park! Not only was the course highly informative and empowering, but fun and enjoyable as well."
Christopher Battaglia, MD
Buffalo, NY
"I loved the warmth and passion of the instructors. Great group and very accessible. Easily one of the best, most practical and fun CME courses I have had in a long time."
Jennifer Mark, MD
Roanoke, VA

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of the course, the participant will be able to:
1
Express a clear conceptual framework for Difficult Airway management in the critical care and inpatient setting.
2
Identify a rapid and systematic approach for the management of the difficult and failed airway.
3
Recognize devices and techniques needed to manage the difficult and failed airway; and when and how to use them.
4
Be able to perform a cricothyrotomy.
5
Be able to assess and manage a difficult airway extubation.
6
Identify airway management techniques for treating highly infectious viral patients.

Target Audience

The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is intended for providers who care for acutely ill in-patients, including Critical Care Specialists,
Intensivists, Hospitalists, Respiratory Therapists and Critical Care Transport providers.

Endorsed by: