This in-service training brief will focus on BLS airway adjuncts. Airway adjuncts combined with an airway maneuver are the key to successful airway management and proper ventilation during resuscitation cases. Paramedic Byan Hess will discuss the physiology of the compromised airway as well as the indications and contra indications for the use of these devices. Mike and Hoss will also discuss the two primary BLS airway maneuvers as well as some of the special considerations that should be a part of any discussion that involves the fundamentals of airway management when using an OPA or NPA airway. All information is presented is complaint with USLA recommendations, resuscitation guidelines from the AHA, and the National Standard EMS scope of practice (NHSTA EMS curriculum.)
Bryan Hess, otherwise known as ‘Hoss.” Hoss was a nickname given to him fondly by grizzled Denver Paramedic FI’s (field instructors) back in the early 90’s. Now, Hoss is a well-seasoned paramedic and paramedic educator with extensive technical rescue experience in both ground EMS and flight disciplines. He previously served the citizens of the city and county of Denver before moving to Gunnison Colorado where he staffed the sole paramedic unit assigned to a county larger than the state of Delaware with a winter population of less than 10,000 residents. In the Rockey Mountains the practice of paramedic care is usually done independently on standing order and often times when medical care must be combined with the art of back country rescue operations executed in dangerous surroundings, usually in austere environmental conditions. Currently he proudly serves as a senior paramedic along the western slope of the continental divide in Delta County, Colorado. On his days off he is a professional fly fishing guide whose clients always walk away from the rivers and streams, happily empty handed, with only pictures of the “hogs” they hooked under the watchful eye of a salty paramedic.