👤 By the CinnaEMS Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-09-24🏷️ Airway, Respiration & Ventilation🔖 Free to read, print, and share
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Use this quick-reference guide to recognise, treat and hand over Airway & Ventilation on the NREMT and on the call. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
📌 Not Moving Air?
Reposition
Then the SEAL — two-person BVM
Harder + faster only inflates the stomach
📌 Capnography
Sudden zero → tube out or arrest
Shark fin → bronchospasm
In arrest → tracks compression quality
📌 Confirm Placement
Chest rise + breath sounds + waveform
Epigastric gurgle → take it out
📚 Airway & Ventilation — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what changes the plan, and what to hand over.
Advanced-level airway management, where the recurring examination theme is that the device is not the point — confirming that air is reaching the lungs is. Capnography is the thread running through the whole domain.
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Key points
Understand these first
A BVM that will not move air is a seal problem until proven otherwise.
Confirm placement by chest rise, breath sounds AND a sustained waveform together.
Waveform SHAPE carries information: a sloping upstroke is bronchospasm.
Abrupt loss of waveform is a displaced tube or arrest — never a nuisance alarm.
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Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Two-person BVM before escalating to a device.
Rate discipline in arrest: hyperventilation reduces output.
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Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
Epigastric gurgling
Progressive abdominal distension
Waveform lost without explanation
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Patient teaching
What patients must know
A forceful cough moves more air than any maneuver you can perform.
❓ Airway & Ventilation: NREMT FAQs
What are the priority actions for Airway & Ventilation in the field?
Two-person BVM before escalating to a device. Rate discipline in arrest: hyperventilation reduces output.
What findings in Airway & Ventilation change your plan or your transport decision?
Epigastric gurgling. Progressive abdominal distension. Waveform lost without explanation.
What do I need to know about Airway & Ventilation for the NREMT?
A BVM that will not move air is a seal problem until proven otherwise. Confirm placement by chest rise, breath sounds AND a sustained waveform together. Waveform SHAPE carries information: a sloping upstroke is bronchospasm. Abrupt loss of waveform is a displaced tube or arrest — never a nuisance alarm.
What should the crew communicate or document for Airway & Ventilation?
A forceful cough moves more air than any maneuver you can perform.
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Quick Tip
A BVM that will not move air is a seal problem until proven otherwise.