If you're a healthcare educator, your goal is to prepare current or future clinicians for moments when time is short, conditions are uncertain, and every action carries weight.

In the real world, you know that airways are often contaminated with blood, vomit, or other secretions. Yet, traditional airway management education often doesn't include training focused on contaminated airways.¹

For many providers, their first encounter with a messy airway happens in a critical patient situation. This can increase stress, errors, and delays. The first time your learners face that reality should never be with a live patient.

Simulation can help you bridge the gap between textbook knowledge and the clinical unpredictability of airway management through realistic, repeatable practice.

Simulation allows your learners to practice, adapt, and build confidence safely through repeated exposure, with immediate feedback on their technique and decision-making.

Build toward first-pass success

Contaminants have been shown to lower first-pass intubation success.⁴ Contamination changes everything: fluids obscure landmarks, suction has to be precise, and timing becomes critical. Without practice in these realistic conditions, even the most experienced providers can struggle.

Achieving first-pass success requires more than good laryngoscopy technique. It requires consistent performance under pressure. Your learners also need to manage suction effectively, maintain visualization, coordinate with the team, and make fast decisions.

Suction-Assisted Laryngoscopy and Airway Decontamination (SALAD) is one step-wise method of managing the contaminated airway.⁵ It’s been shown to improve clinicians’ confidence and ability to effectively handle contaminated airways.⁶

By practicing techniques like SALAD in realistic, repeatable scenarios, your learners develop the coordination, muscle memory, and composure needed to perform consistently under pressure.

Increase training efficiency to enable frequent, repeatable practice

If you're like many others, your time and resources are often limited. Reducing setup and cleanup time, allowing parallel stations, and providing continuous practice opportunities are all ways to increase efficiency and maximize learning impact.

To train effectively for contaminated airway scenarios, you need a solution that can deliver realistic fluid simulation without slowing your program down, while still supporting progression into more complex airway situations.

The Laerdal Advanced Airway Solution is designed to bring contaminated airway training to life in a realistic, efficient, and scalable way. It enables you to run consistent, repeatable contaminated airway scenarios, while also supporting progression into difficult airway and resuscitation training when needed.

Rather than managing multiple manikins for basic airway, difficult airway, CPR, and contaminated scenarios, you can consolidate training into one portable, integrated solution. This reduces equipment redundancy and helps you deliver high-fidelity training more frequently and consistently, even when budgets and time are limited.