The Airway Course for Critical Care & Emergency

Accredited by ACEM, CICM and ACRRM

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Registration now open for 2025 courses!

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The Airway Course for Critical Care & Emergency (ACE) has been specifically designed for critical care and emergency trainees as well as for more senior clinicians who want to refresh and practise their airway skills. In conjunction with the faculty responsible for developing the highly successful National Airway Training Course for Anaesthetic Trainees (NATCAT), Consultant Emergency Physicians and Intensivists have developed this course to meet the specific needs of airway practitioners in the emergency and critical care setting.

COURSE DETAILS

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When: 

23rd August 2025 – Melbourne, Victoria

Please note there will be no Sunshine Coast course in 2025

Where:

Melbourne location – Simulation Centre, Western Centre for Health Research and Education, Sunshine Hospital, Furlong Rd, St Albans, Victoria.

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Cost: $700 (inclusive of course notes, materials and catering)

The pre reading, directions to the venue and parking options will be emailed to you approximately 4 weeks before the course date.
There will be approximately 45-60 minutes pre reading for the course.
A certificate will be presented on completion of the course.

REGISTRATION

Melbourne, Victoria 23rd August 2025

IN THIS COURSE YOU WILL:

• Learn a focused approach to examining the airway, what the airway tests actually mean and how to use the information gathered to execute your airway plan successfully.
• Learn and practise a structured approach to the unexpected difficult airway
• Learn and practise a structured, hands on approach to the Can’t Intubate, Can’t Oxygenate (CICO) scenario
• Explore topics specific to airway management in the ED / Critical Care environment
• Practise all the airway skills at skill stations in small groups of no more then 3.

SKILLS TO BE COVERED INCLUDE:

• Optimising bag-mask ventilation
• Correct LMA choice and optimising ventilation through the LMA
• Direct and indirect laryngoscopy using a variety of blades and videolaryngoscopes
• The use of intubating adjuncts e.g. bougie
• Intubating through an intubating LMA blind and fibrescope assisted
• Performing and oxygenating through a needle cricothyroidotomy, using a Melker kit and performing a cricothyroidotomy using a scalpel and bougie

All participants will have the chance to consolidate these skills in a series of fully immersive scenarios in the state of the art simulation centre using high fidelity SimMan 3G mannequins. ACE is unique in that this high fidelity simulation component comprises 25% of the whole course.

WHO WE ARE:

The experienced faculty consists of Specialist Anaesthetists, ED consultants and Intensivists from teaching hospitals throughout Victoria and Queensland and includes Heads of Department and Supervisors of Training.

With a minimum of 30 specialist instructors per course, a high instructor to participant ratio and an abundance of equipment available, you will have ample opportunity to practise in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and draw on the wealth of clinical experience available to you.

COURSE OUTLINE:

08:15 – 08:45 : Welcome and introduction
08:45- 09:30 : The focused airway exam talk
09:30 – 11:00 : Session 1
11:00 – 11:30 : Morning break
11:30 – 13:00 : Session 2
13:00 – 13:45 : Lunch
13:45 – 15:15 : Session 3
15:15 – 15:45 : Afternoon break
15:45 – 17:15 : Session 4
17:15 – 17:30 : Close and drinks

Course Modules:

Module 1: Planning for success
Module 2: Airway skills
Module 3: Can’t intubate, can’t oxygenate (CICO)
Module 4: Simulation sessions

Each module is 90 min in duration
All participants will rotate through all 4 modules during the course

CPD ACCREDITATION:

• Accredited by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine for a total of 9.5 CPD points, activity number 13/050
• Accredited by the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand as a Category 2B: Active or Interactive Small Group Learning Activity – 2 CPD points per hour
• Accredited by the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand as part of the curriculum for trainees for the College of Intensive Care Medicine
• Accredited by the Australian College of Rural & Remote Medicine for the following points and MOPS: 30 PRPD +30 EM MOPS + 30 AN MOPS and qualifies for a 1 day grant in either anaesthetics or emergency medicine

WHAT PARTICIPANTS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE ACE…

Excellent, thorough and well-structured course
Good re-enforcement of key messages which simplified otherwise complex cases
Great revision covering all key airway techniques.
Excellent student / teacher ratio – great content. Really super having small groups
Small facilitator to participant ratio, very focused, good sim sessions
This course is useful to all doctors no matter where they work and their level of training
Loved it. Great course, Hands on, structured approach drilled during every station
Good catering, plenty of food. Excellent teachers, good variety of equipment with ample time to practice

Read what Life in the Fast Lane had to say about the ACE – “Are your airway skills ACE?”

A note from a participant:

Dear Adriano,
Just wanted to say thanks for organising ACE
For an inaugural conference, it was very slick, well-organised and inspiring (I feel a lot more empowered about the airway since attending)

I will be going back to my hospital with the ACE adaptation of the DAS algorithm and encouraging my fellow registrars to attend next year- it’s more than worth it! Happy to help with promotion/testimonials in future if you wish

Thanks for a great course- you hit the nail on the head!

For further questions, please email Dr Adriano Cocciante (course convenor).

ACE would like to thank the following companies for their support: