Notes from a quick discussion with Rob Everitt (ICU, Waitemata DHB)
Can you imagine hospitals or make shift hospitals buying or making tens or hundreds of such a device?
not 1st world, others could do. outside med.
Can you see any technical issues with the device, and if so which ones are most important?
current ventilators are 60-80k (Hamilton C6) - modes galore, most not used.
it is easy to vent dead/fake person.
ventilated patients usually sedated but "awake". can cough and interact with machine. patient is either syncrhonised or desynchronised with machine. to keep sync need to trigger on patient breath but also allow more breath on that intake. a patient that tries to start a breath and can't, or tries to continue a breath but can't, becomes uncomfortable and needs to be put well under or be taken off ventilation (neither are desirable).
How do large makeshift wards work in terms of ratios (doctors : nurses : patients)?
In 1st world there is 1:1 nurse to patient ratio. 100% of the time. coz ventilated patients are unstable, and hypoxic patient can die in <60s if tube comes off or similar.
All bets are off as to how these ratios would work in 2nd/3rd world. Even on flash ventilators many would die without 1:1 ratio
Can the "remote operation" of the device help w.r.t 3?
Probably, although hard to imagine from 1st world perspective
Notes from a quick discussion with Rob Everitt (ICU, Waitemata DHB)
Can you imagine hospitals or make shift hospitals buying or making tens or hundreds of such a device?
Can you see any technical issues with the device, and if so which ones are most important?
How do large makeshift wards work in terms of ratios (doctors : nurses : patients)?
Can the "remote operation" of the device help w.r.t 3?