PURPOSE
This workshop aimed to provide AirLife critical care transport
professionals with a focused opportunity to revisit core anatomy in a
clinical context, strengthening spatial orientation and procedural confidence
for high-stakes airway and thoracic interventions.
METHODS
Ten AirLife team members participated in a structured workshop at Carle
Illinois College of Medicine’s anatomy lab using human donors. Faculty
demonstrated posterior laryngeal anatomy via a retropharyngeal approach and
anterior laryngeal and thoracic landmarks on prosected donors, emphasizing
regions essential for intubation, needle cricothyrotomy, and needle
thoracostomy. Participants then practiced these procedures on donors before
transitioning to an interprofessional teaching activity in which they
instructed 15 first-year medical students performing skill checks on
simulators under AirLife guidance. A pre–post retrospective survey evaluated
changes in participants' confidence and perceived anatomical understanding.
RESULTS
Survey responses demonstrated meaningful increases in confidence with
airway and thoracic procedures and in clarity of key anatomical
relationships. Participants emphasized that returning to the anatomy lab
consolidated prior field experience, refreshed three-dimensional
understanding, and provided realism and tissue fidelity beyond manikin-based
simulation. Informal feedback further indicated that the opportunity to teach
medical students reinforced participants’ own procedural mastery and
leadership skills.
CONCLUSION
Re-engaging with human donors in a guided anatomy lab experience, coupled
with interprofessional teaching, offers a powerful model for recalibrating
and deepening procedural knowledge among critical care transport
professionals. This approach appears to enhance confidence in life-saving
airway and thoracic interventions while bridging theoretical anatomy,
real-tissue experience, and team-based critical care practice.