PAC at Penn
Airway mastery is not a station. It is a system, built through deliberate practice, expert coaching, anatomy, physiology, and the decisions that connect them.
An additional 25 seats are reserved for students and are not registered here.
The airway is a connected system.
You will not spend the day watching lectures. You will do reps, get coached in real time by expert faculty, and practice the moments most likely to fail, so that when they happen for real, they feel familiar. It is one of the most affordable advanced airway courses anywhere, built to raise the airway culture of an entire hospital.
Airway care does not belong to one specialty.
Neither should airway education. PAC at Penn brings the Protected Airway Collaborative's "Learn. Practice. Perform." model to a one-day, cross-specialty symposium that puts emergency medicine, anesthesiology, critical care, and EMS in the same room. Presented with Penn's PSOM Anatomy Lab and the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science, the course pairs QR-linked poster stations with hands-on task-trainer time and one-on-one coaching, so every concept taught is immediately practiced. Learn more at theprotectedairway.com.
One airway. Many ways of seeing it.
Bring emergency medicine, anesthesiology, critical care, and EMS into the same room, and the airway stops looking like one person's problem. Each specialty challenges the others' assumptions and builds a more complete model of what airway performance actually requires.
Three pillars of the PAC method
Poster stations
QR-linked infographic posters turn every station into a self-contained teaching tool: the bridge between concept and hands-on skill.
Expert-led coaching
One-on-one feedback from faculty who do this for a living: real-time correction, not a lecture slide.
Cadaveric training
Hands-on exposure to real anatomy, offering a learning experience that no mannequin can rival.
Two ways to train at PAC at Penn
Seats are first come, first served and are not guaranteed until registration and payment are confirmed. This course does not provide CME (Continuing Medical Education) credit or equivalent continuing education credit.
AM Course
The morning covers the essentials of airway management, from optimizing first-pass success with video or direct laryngoscopy, to pre-oxygenating and re-oxygenating the crashing patient, to emergency front-of-neck access. Self-directed didactics lead straight into hands-on learning spaces, where you rotate through stations with expert faculty for individualized coaching and immediate feedback.
- Video laryngoscopy
- Pre-oxygenation techniques
- Direct laryngoscopy optimization
- Bougie use
- FONA (front-of-neck access)
Whole Day Course
The full day builds on the morning with an afternoon of advanced, high-acuity airway management: the contaminated airway, the physiologically difficult airway (pulmonary hypertension, hemorrhage, severe hypoxemia), and massive transfusion scenarios in the crashing patient, through SALAD, a full simulation room, and cadaveric training, with extended one-on-one coaching to refine morning skills.
- Everything in the AM Course
- RSI pharmacology
- SALAD (suction-assisted laryngoscopy and airway decontamination)
- Full simulation room
- Cadaveric training
You will choose your track, AM Course or Whole Day, during registration.
AM Course vs. Whole Day
| What is included | AM · $250 | Whole Day · $450 |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day PAC subscription | ||
| Core skill learning spaces | ||
| Advanced afternoon topics (contaminated airway, physiologically difficult airway, massive transfusion) | – | |
| SALAD and simulation room learning spaces | – | |
| Cadaveric training | – | |
| Price | $250 | $450 |
Five spaces, one airway.
Move through the airway as a connected system. Explore the full library at theprotectedairway.com.
Every space isolates the mechanics, then reconnects them to the larger clinical sequence.
People who shape the learning spaces.
Each faculty member owns a distinct part of the airway problem while working inside one shared educational system.
Local airway educator leaders
Faculty from across Penn's airway-involved specialties, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, critical care, and EMS, will join as station coaches, bringing local expertise to every learning space. Full roster to be announced.
Meet the full PAC facultyFaculty confirmed to date. Additional national and Penn faculty will be announced ahead of the course.
The course does not end when you leave Penn.
Every registration includes a PAC subscription, so the learning spaces you trained in stay open. Revisit the QR-linked posters, rewatch the concise teaching, and keep rehearsing the procedures long after the day is done.
Digital learning spaces
The same QR-linked posters and curated media you used at each station, available to revisit whenever you need a refresher.
Deliberate repetition
Guided procedure reviews built for repetition, not just review, so hard-won skills do not fade before you need them.
A cross-specialty community
Stay connected to the wider PAC network of clinicians and educators who care about getting the airway right.
Before you register.
What is included in the morning course?
What does the whole-day option add?
Is this only for Penn clinicians?
Will CME or CE be offered?
Only 50 seats available.
Join us at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 3, 2026.
Register NowSeats are first come, first served and are not guaranteed until registration and payment are confirmed.