Strategies to Mitigate Ventilator Shortages
An ECRI lab tour
View a recording of our April 1, 2020, live-streamed lab webcast, to understand how to strategize ventilator deployment when supplies are short, how to split one ventilator as a last resort to treat two patients, and how to ensure that a ventilator is safe to use. The presentation concludes with an informative Q&A session based on questions from hospitals around the globe.
Speakers
- Dr. Andrew Furman, Executive Director, Clinical Excellence, ECRI
- Ismael Cordero, Senior Project Officer, Device Evaluation, ECRI
Lab tour recording
Recommendations
ECRI Alert
- High-Priority ECRI Alert | Use of One Ventilator to Mechanically Ventilate Two or More Patients Simultaneously Presents Risks: The use of one ventilator to treat two or more patients via adaptors has been proposed as one way to address ventilator shortages related to a surge of COVID-19 patients.
Survey
What approach are you using to mitigate ventilator shortages? Take our one-question survey.
ECRI is here to help
Our interdisciplinary staff is here to help you address your most challenging issues in your response to COVID-19. We have compiled free resources in the ECRI COVID-19 Resource Center. Please contact us for assistance and to learn more.
New York-Presbyterian ventilator-sharing protocol
If clinicians consider using one ventilator for two or more patients, they should do so only as a last resort, and the hospital should have a plan to manage the associated risks before doing so. Refer to the New York-Presbyterian/Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) working protocol for guidance.
Inspection and preventive maintenance (IPM) procedures
Return to the ECRI COVID-19 Resource Center
All material in the Clinical Evidence Assessment is protected by copyright, and all rights are reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. Subscribers may not copy, resell, or reproduce information from Clinical Evidence Assessments (except to print out single copies of reports for authorized use) by any means or for any purpose, including library and interlibrary use, or transfer it to third parties without prior written permission from ECRI. Only with respect to ECRI content on this Resource Site, https://www.ecri.org/coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-preparedness-center/, in light of current circumstances with respect to COVID-19, ECRI permits the content at this Resource Site to be reproduced and shared, in whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes only, as that term is understood under similar provisions, e.g., CREATIVE COMMONS NON-COMMERCIAL LICENSE.