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Hands-On Critical Care Airway Management Training for ICU Clinicians
The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is a specialized, hands-on course focused on the physiologically difficult airway and ICU airway management of critically ill patients.
Designed specifically for providers caring for critically ill patients – intensivists, pulmonary and critical care physicians, hospitalists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants – this immersive course is the only national CME program applying the evidence-based airway management approach developed by Drs. Ron Walls, Michael Murphy and Robert Luten to the critical care environment. The course prepares clinicians to manage physiologically difficult airways, perform awake intubation, rescue failed airways and confidently execute surgical airway techniques when seconds matter.
When a complex airway presents in the ICU the stakes couldn't be higher. Hypoxia. Soiled airways. Hemodynamic collapse. In many hospitals you may be the most experienced airway clinician in the room, and you don't get a second chance to get it right.
The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is designed to prepare you for exactly these moments with:
- Hands-on Training and Expert Insights
- Core content, advanced airway strategies and evidence-based approaches delivered through a dynamic blend of focused discussions, case-based teaching and hands-on practice in essential airway techniques.
- Practical Strategies and Techniques You Can Use Immediately
- You'll get guided, hands-on reps with multiple devices working with our expert faculty and leave with the confidence to apply these vital skills on your very next shift!
- Realistic, High-Stakes Simulation
- Our high-fidelity Code Airway™ stations put you directly in the scenarios you'll face bedside, providing a risk-free environment to practice applying the strategies and skills you've learned.
Reserve your seat below. | See Sample Schedule | Frequently Asked Questions
Upcoming Dates and Locations
Course Fees:
Download Boston Schedule
Download San Diego Schedule
We understand that plans can change for many reasons, resulting in the need to change your registration. To ensure fairness and transparency, we’ve developed policies that are as accommodating as possible. Our Cancellation and Transfer policies are summarized below – please click here to see the full text of these.
Cancellation
The following fee schedule applies to all cancellations regardless of the reason for cancellation:
- Cancellations requested 14 days or more prior to the course start date will receive a 90% refund
- Cancellations requested 2 – 14 days prior to the course start date will receive a 50% refund
- No refunds will be issued for cancellations requested within 2 days of the course start date, or to registrants who do not attend the course and fail to make prior arrangements to change their registration.
Transfer
Alternately, registrants may transfer their registration with a 100% tuition credit under the following terms:
- Transfers requested more than 7 days prior to the course start date may be transferred with no fee.
- Transfer requested within 7 days of the course start date will be charged a $200 Administrative fee.
- Transfer credits are valid through December 31 of the calendar year following the transfer request.
All cancellation and transfer requests must be made in writing to registrations@theairwaysite.com before the start of the course.
AMEC does not waive the fees outlined above due to natural disasters, weather-related problems, travel delays, government shutdowns or similar events beyond our control.
In the unlikely event AMEC is required to cancel a course, all attendees will receive a 100% refund or may transfer to another course.
See our full Cancellation, Transfer and General Course Policies here.
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.
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!
You guys knocked it out of the park! Not only was the course highly informative and empowering, but fun and enjoyable as well.
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.
Airway Management in the ICU is Different
The ICU is home to some of the most challenging airway scenarios in medicine. Unlike the controlled environment of the OR or the unpredictable nature of the ED, the ICU lies somewhere in the middle; critically ill patients often deteriorate quickly, with severe hypoxemia, shock, hemodynamic instability and dynamic physiology leaving little margin for error. From self-extubation and tracheostomy emergencies to awake intubations and the massively soiled airway, success demands more than technical skill. It requires a structured, evidence-based approach to the physiologically difficult airway and the confidence to make rapid decisions when seconds matter.
At The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care You’ll Learn To:
High-Stakes Skills You Will Master:
- Preventing Physiologic Collapse
- Preoxygenation strategies
- Hemodynamic optimization
- Managing the physiologically difficult airway
- Maximizing First-Pass Success
- Optimizing view with video laryngoscopy
- Positioning for critically ill patients
- Airway Ultrasound
- Managing the Failed Airway
- Rapid transition to rescue strategies
- Supraglottic airway use
- Avoiding repeated unsuccessful attempts
- Performing Life-Saving Rescue Techniques
- Surgical airway as part of the plan – not a last resort
- Emergency oxygenation strategies
- Extubation techniques and use of Airway Exchange Catheters
- Leading the Airway Emergency
- Crisis decision-making frameworks
- Team leadership and communication
- Code Airway scenarios including:
- Agitated hemodynamically unstable patient who self-extubates
- The bleeding, traumatized, vomit-filled airway
- Tracheostomy issues, including accidental dislodgement
- Upper airway obstruction
- The “can’t intubate / can’t ventilate” situation
- Airway management in the massively obese patient
Endorsed By:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who should attend The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care?
A: The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is designed for clinicians responsible for airway management in critically ill adult patients. The course is ideal for intensivists, pulmonary and critical care physicians, hospitalists, critical care nurse practitioners, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, and any provider who manages or assists with high-risk airway emergencies.
The course is valuable for clinicians across the full spectrum of healthcare systems, providing practical advanced airway training for high-volume academic centers, with particular benefit for those in community hospitals or rural facilities where airway encounters may be less frequent or immediate expert backup may not be available
Q: Is this course appropriate for hospitalists and advanced practice providers?
A: Yes! The difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is valuable for all members of the patient care team practicing in the ICU / CCU.
Q: Will I learn surgical cricothyrotomy?
A: Yes! The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care features a dedicated session teaching surgical cricothyrotomy with a short introduction lecture covering key concepts, and hands-on time practicing surgical airway techniques on pig tracheas, providing a “real feel” environment to fine-tune this life-saving skill.
Q: Does the course teach awake intubation?
A: Yes – awake tracheal intubation is an important piece of every clinicians’ airway toolbox, and The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care teaches how to recognize when this approach should be used, as well as best practices for awake tracheal intubation.
Q: How much simulation is included in the course?
A: The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care features 5 hours of Code Airway™ scenario sessions. Attendees are broken into small groups and rotate through a variety of real-world scenarios designed to highlight and reinforce the approaches and techniques taught during the course.
Q: Is CME Credit available?
A:Yes! The Difficult Airway Course: Critical Care is approved for CME credit by ACCME through our joint providership with SCP Health.
SCP Health designates this live activity for a maximum of 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Click here for full accreditation information.
Q: What difficult airway scenarios are practiced?
A: Our two Code Airway™ sessions cover scenarios derived from actual patients and airway issues our faculty have experienced in their practice. Situations range from awake intubation in cooperative patients to extreme physiologically difficult airways, cardiac arrest airways, soiled airways, blown cuffs, accidental extubation, hemorrhagic shock and more! These sessions require attendees to work together to run through the assessment and decision-making processes taught at the course and apply the techniques they’ve practiced to resolve each case.
Q: What is included in the course tuition?
A: Course tuition includes the course textbook, Manual of Airway Management in Critical Care, 1st edition (© 2024 Wolters Kluwer) and The Airway Card™.
Accreditation
2026 Accreditation Information
SCP Health designates this live activity for a maximum of 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity
The American Osteopathic Association accepts for AOA Category 2 credit activities designated for AMA PRA Category 1™ Credit from organizations accredited by ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education) and programs approved by AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians) for Prescribed or Elective credit.
Schedule
Jump to San Diego Course Schedule
Boston 2026 General Course Schedule (final schedule distributed on-site) Download PDF
Day 1 (Boston Only)
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 - 11:30 AM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Direct Laryngoscopy / Video Laryngoscopy
Bag Mask Ventilation (BMV), Extraglottic Airways (EGD)
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Lunch on Your Own
12:30 - 1:00 PM
Difficult Assessment
1:00 - 2:00 PM
Dangerous Physiology
2:00 - 2:45 PM
RSI Pharmacology
2:45 - 3:00 PM
Break
3:00- 5:00 PM
Code Airway™ Stations
Day 2 (Boston Only)
6:30 - 7:30 AM
Registration and Breakfast
7:30 - 8:50 AM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Soiled Airway
Airway Ultrasound
8:50 - 9:05 AM
Break
9:05 - 10:25 AM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Soiled Airway
Airway Ultrasound
10:25 - 11:55 AM
Failed Airway with Surgical Cricothyrotomy Lab
11:55 AM - 1:15 pm
Panel Lunch (provided)
1:15- 2:45PM
Hands-on Workshops (Rotation)
Code Airway I
Flexible Endoscopy
2:45- 3:00 PM
Break
3:00- 4:30 PM
Hands-on Workshops (Rotation)
Code Airway I
Flexible Endoscopy
Day 3 (Boston Only)
6:30 - 7:30 AM
Registration and Breakfast
7:30 - 8:30 AM
Human Factors
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Exchange Catheters
9:00 - 11:00 AM
Breakout Sessions (Rotation)
Altered Airway
Hands-On Workshop: Extubation and Exchange Catheters
11:00 - 11:30 AM
Final Points & Pearls, Wrap-Up/Post-Test
SAN DIEGO 2026 General Course Schedule (final schedule distributed on-site) Download PDF
Day 1 (San Diego Only)
6:30 - 7:30 AM
Registration / Breakfast / Exhibits
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
10:00 - 11:00 AM
Dangerous Physiology
11:00 - 11:45 AM
RSI Pharmacology
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Lunch on Your Own
12:45 - 2:45 PM
Hands-on Sessions (Rotation)
Code Airway Stations
Direct Laryngoscopy / Video Laryngoscopy
Bag Mask Ventilation (BMV) / Extraglottic Airways (EGD)
2:45 - 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 - 5:00 PM
Hands-on Sessions (Rotation)
Code Airway Stations
Direct Laryngoscopy / Video Laryngoscopy
Bag Mask Ventilation (BMV) / Extraglottic Airways (EGD)
Day 2 (San Diego Only)
6:30 - 7:30 AM
Registration / Breakfast / Exhibits
7:30 - 9:00 AM
Failed Airway with Surgical Cricothyrotomy Lab
9:00 - 9:15 AM
Break
9:15 - 9:45 AM
Exchange Catheters
9:45 - 11:45 AM
Breakout Sessions (Rotation)
Altered Airway
Hands-on Workshop: Extubation and Airway Exchange Catheters
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
Panel Lunch (Provided)
1:15 - 3:55 PM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Soiled Airway
Airway Ultrasound
Flexible Endoscopy
3:55 - 4:15 PM
Break
4:15 - 5:30 PM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Soiled Airway
Airway Ultrasound
Flexible Endoscopy
Day 3 (San Diego Only)
6:30 - 7:30 AM
Registration / Breakfast / Exhibits
7:30 - 8:30 AM
Human Factors
8:30 - 11:00 AM
Hands-On Workshops (Rotation)
Code Airway I
Extra Skills Practice
11:00 - 11:30 AM
Final Points & Pearls, Wrap-up / Post-Test
Course Objectives
Target Audience
Intensivists, Hospitalists, Respiratory Therapists and Critical Care Transport providers.
Endorsed by: