I would surely rank the  nasopharyngeal airway (NPA) as one of the most under-rated / under-utilized pieces of equipment in the EMT bag of tricks. They’re useful, simple and versatile. As a group, we tend to do a pretty good job oxygenating our patients, but I think we drop the ball on BLS airway adjuncts. Most of our unresponsive or semi-responsive patients should be arriving at the ER with an NPA in place. If you’re bagging a patient they should have one … maybe two NPAs in place. They’re fast, they’re friendly, they work much better on the semi-conscious and they don’t stimulate the gag reflex quite like their cousin the oropharyngeal airway . They also stay in place better, leaving the mouth open for examination and advanced airway techniques. I’ve often had EMTs explain that they didn’t drop a basic airway adjunct because they knew I was right around the corner and I’d be intubating. That’s a poor excuse. When I arrive on scene I’d like to see that the EMT at the head has managed the BLS airway aggressively. So let’s bone up on our NPA skills. Once you’re comfortable with these little beauties, they only take a few seconds to drop. You don’t need to make it a big production. Grab the right size, squirt a clump of KY on the end and go. So let’s break it down and make you an NPA, quick draw, master. 1) Know where they are kept. That goes for the kit and the ambulance. I know this sounds painfully obvious and hopefully it is. If you can visualize exactly where the NPAs are in your kit and your cabinet right now you’re golden. But let’s face it … that’s not always the case.

Original Source of The Art of The Nasopharyngeal Airway