Prosthodontics, Special Patient Care, Maxillofacial Prosthetics, and Weintraub Center, UCLA School of Dentistry

Ventilators Monitors and Flow Meters

The onset of COVID-19 related lung infections leads to respiratory failure, resulting in patients needing to be placed on a ventilator for assistance with breathing. A ventilator functions by using pressure to push air into the lungs through a breathing tube, which is inserted into the windpipe often through the nose or mouth. Ventilators are crucial for doctors to treat patients who are critically ill with COVID-19 and have lost the ability to breathe on their own. However, the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases has overwhelmed hospitals which are not equipped with adequate resources to treat the number of patients requiring attention.

This massive influx of patients with COVID-19 has resulted in a national shortage of ventilators. Some hospitals have subsequently considered, if not already implemented, ventilator splitting in which an attachment is used to split air flow from a single ventilator to multiple patients attached to the same machine. The goal of splitting is to maximize the number of patients able to receive treatment when there is limited access to ventilators. Ventilators, however, were not designed to treat more than one patient at a time, as proper ventilation requires the use of individualized settings including the percent oxygen flowing to the lungs, the volume of air administered, and the pressure, rate, and flow at which air is administered.

Furthermore, even if these patients sharing a single ventilator have these same initial clinical findings, they may recover or deteriorate at different rates. If one patient deteriorates, they will have a lower lung compliance, and all the pressure will redirect flow to the lungs of the stronger patient. This will result in the stronger patient being overwhelmed with too much air, subsequent lung damage, and underventilation of the weaker patient. Thus, monitoring of flow rates and volume exchanges is essential in minimizing ventilator-induced lung injury, especially with ventilator splitting as conditions may change rapidly. The use of flow meters is ideal as we can monitor the amount of air delivered to the patient and titrate the amount to an appropriate level. Monitors and flow meters are a key tool for doctors to manage the distribution of air flow and ensure that each patient is receiving the correct amount of air needed at an appropriate flow rate. Management of these ventilator parameters is essential for the ventilator to perform its intended function especially with multiple patients attached, and thus flow monitors and meters are necessary for splitting to be a viable option.

Status: Splitters ready for mass manufacturing. 

Ventilator team

Reference

Here’s how a ventilator actually works.