Our online walkabout on the emergency surgical airway is coming to an end. I hope you’ve found this helpful, I know I enjoyed doing it. The emergent cricothyroidotomy presents many educational challenges. It is a high stakes, low-frequency procedure performed in the stressful failed airway situation, where time is not on your side.

Preparing yourself for this scenario requires several key technical and non-technical skills outlined in summary here:

• A working knowledge of airway anatomy and the confidence to quickly identify important anatomical landmarks.
• Familiarity with the necessary procedural skills – ideally practiced and reviewed in cadaver as well as sim labs so that the muscle memory is there when you need it.
• Situational awareness: a term that encompasses the logistical, emotional and psychological skills necessary to take appropriate and effective action. In this case it is defined by how effectively you can identify the failed airway and move through the failed airway algorithm in order to put scalpel to skin. It includes the recognition of normalcy bias and focus lock and the danger of repetitive attempts at laryngoscopy to the hypoxic patient,

This exercise is not a substitute for good clinical training, rather it is designed to highlight key concepts by drawing together disparate online resources into a coherent and educational narrative. As the name EMBER Project (EM Bundles & Education Research) suggests, our goal is to provide bundles of educational material and to discover innovative ways to bring it to you. This time. the entire bundle of resources presented over the last couple of weeks, along with commentary and opinions from other physicians and experts will be up on the EMBER Project’s Facebook page and on Storify today for review – and for future reference. Please join the conversation and add your insight. Until then, may the airway be ever in your favor!