When you first reach an unconscious casualty, how should you open the airway?

• A. Head tilt - chin lift
• B. Jaw thrust
• C. Look, listen, feel
• D. Tongue-jaw maneuver

Answer: (A)

Opening the airway for an unconscious casualty is about clearing the passage while keeping the neck as still as possible unless a spine injury is suspected. If there’s no indication of a neck or spinal injury, the quickest and most effective way to do this is the head tilt and chin lift technique. Tilting the head back slightly and lifting the chin moves the tongue away from the back of the throat and opens the airway so air can pass through and you can assess breathing and provide rescue breaths. If there were a concern for a cervical spine injury, you would use a jaw thrust to open the airway without extending the neck. The look, listen, feel step is for checking breathing after the airway is opened, and the tongue-jaw maneuver isn’t the standard initial method for opening the airway in this situation.