Assessment

Look, Listen and Feel for:

• Blood in airway
• Vomitus in the airway
• Tongue or solid objects in the airway
• Burned nasal hairs or soot around the nose or mouth
• Accumulating bleeding under the skin in the neck
• Altered mental status
• Gurgling
• Snoring 
• Stridor
• Noisy breathing

Management

• Protect the cervical spine with manual immobilization or placement of a cervical collar
• Open the airway using jaw thrust (note: DO NOT use head-tilt chin-lift if their is suspected spine injury)
• If secretions, blood or vomitus present, suction and manually remove any visible foreign objects from the airway
• Keep airway patent by placing an Oral Pharyngeal Airway or a Nasal Pharyngeal Airway

Image of c-spine manual immobilization

Image on how to use a neck collar

Image of NPA


Image of OPA


Image of jaw thrust


Image of McGills forceps


Image of suction apparatus