The head tilt-chin lift maneuver is MOST appropriate for which scenario?

• A. A 37-year-old female who is found unconscious in her bed
• B. A 45-year-old male who is semiconscious after falling 20 feet
• C. A 24-year-old male who is found unconscious at the base of a tree
• D. A 50-year-old male who is unconscious following head trauma

Answer: (A)

When opening the airway, you choose the technique based on whether there’s a suspected cervical spine injury. The head tilt-chin lift is the quickest way to open an airway when you have no reason to suspect neck or spine injury because it maneuvers the tongue away from the airway by tilting the head back and lifting the chin.

This fits a patient who’s unconscious in bed with no reported trauma or mechanism suggesting spinal injury. In that case, you can use head tilt-chin lift to rapidly clear the airway and ventilate.

In the other scenarios, there’s clear or likely head or neck trauma (fall from height, unconscious after trauma, potential cervical injury). In those situations you’d protect the spine with in-line stabilization and use a jaw-thrust maneuver to open the airway without extending the neck.