VEMS for Airway Drills?

We honestly did not expect VEMS to work this well for difficult airway drills.

At first glance, it seems odd: a 2D patient, laminated airway equipment, and a tabletop somehow drawing experienced anaesthetic teams into a realistic airway crisis.

And yet it absolutely does. What surprised us most is why it works so well.

There is no fighting the mannequin

We have all participated in airway simulations where the mannequin is “not supposed” to be intubatable…

…but eventually someone forces the plastic into the plastic hole anyway.

The simulation becomes a battle against the mannequin rather than a practice of airway decision making.

With VEMS, that problem disappears.

The facilitator simply tells the team what they see:

“You have a grade 4 view.”
“Bougie won’t pass.”
“Bag-mask ventilation is becoming difficult.”

The team trusts the information, adapts, and moves on.

There is no fighting themselves

Interestingly, the opposite problem disappears too.

Sometimes intubation should be achievable, but participants give up because the mannequin itself is difficult to tube.

Again, the simulator changes the clinical reality.

With VEMS, the cognitive load stays focused on the airway problem itself—not on interpreting whether the mannequin is behaving properly.

There is no fighting you

Anyone who has facilitated simulation long enough has experienced the debrief that becomes dominated by criticism of the mannequin.

“The airway anatomy was unrealistic.”
“The jaw movement wasn’t right.”
“That isn’t how it feels in real life.”

And often… they are correct.

With VEMS, there is very little to argue with.

The facilitator describes the airway.
The team responds.
The scenario evolves.

The realism happens in the minds of the participants.

And remarkably, you can see it.

Experienced clinicians instinctively make subtle laryngoscopy movements, simulate BURP, adjust imagined bougie placement, and reposition themselves around the patient.

They are clearly visualizing the situation.

The D zone feels real

In one recent scenario, the team progressed into the dreaded D zone:

Can’t intubate.
Can’t ventilate.

The tension in the room changed.

Imagine if teams practiced like this every day

Perhaps the biggest advantage is how easy this is to run.

No sim lab.
No expensive airway mannequin.
No complex setup.

Just a team, a facilitator, and a difficult airway problem.

Imagine if teams practiced airway drills like this every day:
before theatre lists, during handover, or over coffee.

Simple tools.
Serious teams.
Real thinking under pressure.

Get your VEMS kit here.