How to suction the airway
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.
Suction clears blood, vomit and secretions so the patient can breathe and be ventilated. Short passes and oxygen between them keep it safe.
Step by step
Protect yourself and prepare
Gloves, eye protection and mask. Turn on the suction and check that it pulls. [1]
Oxygenate first
Give oxygen before suctioning if the patient is breathing or being ventilated. [2]
Measure the depth
With a rigid (Yankauer) tip, go only as far as you can see, never past the base of the tongue. [1]
Suction
Insert without suction, then suction while moving the tip as you come out. [1]
Keep it short
No longer than about 15 seconds per pass in adults, less in children. [1]
Oxygenate between passes
Ventilate or give oxygen before the next pass. Watch heart rate and saturation: a slow heart rate means stop. [2]
Record
What came out, how much, and how the patient responded. [2]
Common errors
- Suctioning for too long.
- Pushing the tip blind into the throat.
- Not giving oxygen between passes.
Practice it in VMS
In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.
VMS cases that train this skill
Sources
- NREMT psychomotor skill sheets (EMT and Paramedic)
- Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow NREMT psychomotor skill sheets (EMT and Paramedic). VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.