Airway management in the Emergency Department is often a "crash" intubation with or without the need for sedation. Optimal intubation conditions are almost always best achieved with adequate paralysis as well. When the intubation can be planned, there is time to evaluate the airway for potential mask ventilation, intubation, and even surgical access. The difficult airway can be planned for in this way. When things go wrong and one cannot ventilate or intubate, the failed airway path must be followed.
This topic covers the various algorithms including "crash" airway, the difficult airway, rapid sequence intubation, "awake" intubation and the surgical airway. Presentation is in both narrative and flowsheet format.