You may encounter several airway adjuncts in your equipment kits. At all levels of kits, you are likely to find nasopharyngeal airways with lubricants used to keep the airway open by keeping the tongue from occluding the airway.

With higher-level kits, you may find Bag Valve Masks as well as more invasive airway adjuncts like extraglottic airways and cricothyroidotomy kits. These products establish an advanced airway without the use of intubation equipment. Some of the extraglottic products used are the i-gel®, Combitube, LMA, and King LT. This will all be covered in the airway module.

Surgical cricothyroidotomy kits can provide a surgical airway to a patient by creating a surgical opening in the cricothyroid membrane between the larynx and the cricoid cartilage. This should be a LAST RESORT procedure.