As an EMT-I student on night shift this weekend, the medic had me put an NPA in a patient who was losing responsiveness but hadn't bought himself a tube yet. He held up fine and wound up not needing a tube. Later, the medic told me that she didn't really think much of NPAs, and actually used them more as a way to root out fakers than as airway adjuncts!

What do you guys think of NPAs? Have they proven worthwhile in the field for you, or does your airway adjuct sequence = nothing, then OPA, then ETT?