Airway management
Endotracheal intubation is the placement of a tube through the mouth (or nose), past the vocal cords, and into the trachea, to secure the airway and allow ventilation. It is taught as a sequence, and the diagrams on this page follow that sequence exactly: the steps are drawn in the same style so they can be shown one after another on a slide deck or laid out together on a single handout.
The sequence deliberately separates the things that are often blurred together in a demonstration. Positioning comes before anything else, because a poorly positioned head makes every later step harder. Blade insertion and the glottic view are shown as two figures, because the skill is in what you do between them — sweeping the tongue, finding the epiglottis, lifting rather than levering. Confirmation is its own step with its own figure, because a tube in the oesophagus looks identical to one in the trachea until you check.
The equipment figures — laryngoscope and endotracheal tube — sit alongside the steps so the parts can be named before the procedure is walked through. Everything is a vector drawing; labels can be edited or removed, and the full set opens in the editor as one pre-arranged figure.
In the lecture
Neck flexed on a pillow, head extended at the atlanto-occipital joint. This aligns the oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal axes. Make the point that most difficult laryngoscopies are made worse by skipping this step.
In the lecture
Blade enters the right side of the mouth and sweeps the tongue left. Advance until the epiglottis comes into view. The motion is a lift along the handle, never a lever on the teeth.
In the lecture
The view you are working for: epiglottis above, arytenoids below, cords between. Teach it as a picture to be recognised, not a list. This is also where to introduce the Cormack–Lehane grades.
In the lecture
Tube enters from the right side of the mouth so the view is not obscured, and passes through the cords under direct vision. Watch the cuff go through — that is the moment to stop advancing.
In the lecture
Inflate to seal, not to pressure — a cuff over-inflated against the tracheal wall causes ischaemia. The pilot balloon is a check that the cuff is holding, not a pressure gauge.
In the lecture
Sustained end-tidal CO₂ waveform is the confirmation. Chest rise, misting, and auscultation are supportive but each can mislead. No trace, wrong place.
In the lecture
The curved blade sits in the vallecula in front of the epiglottis and lifts it indirectly. Contrast with the straight (Miller) blade, which lifts the epiglottis directly.
In the lecture
Name the parts before the procedure: connector, cuff, pilot balloon, Murphy eye. The depth markings at the teeth are what you record.
These diagrams are teaching aids drawn to show the structures and steps that matter at slide size. They are reviewed against standard anatomy and airway references but are simplified for clarity, and are not a substitute for clinical training, local guidelines, or supervised practice.
All respiratory diagrams