Frugal Innovation: Enabling Mechanical Ventilation During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Resource-Limited Settings

Chintan Dave; Paul Cameron; John Basmaji; Gordon Campbell; Edward Buga; Marat Slessarev

doi:10.1097/CCE.0000000000000410

Frugal Innovation: Enabling Mechanical Ventilation During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Resource-Limited Settings

Crit Care Explor. 2021 Apr 26;3(4):e0410. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000410. eCollection 2021 Apr.

Authors

Chintan Dave¹, Paul Cameron¹, John Basmaji¹, Gordon Campbell², Edward Buga³, Marat Slessarev¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
² Medical Biophysics Department, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abstract

ICUs worldwide are facing resource shortages including increased need for provision of invasive mechanical ventilation during the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Fearing shortage of ventilators, many private companies and public institutions have focused on building new inexpensive, open-source ventilators. However, designing and building new ventilators is not sufficient for addressing invasive mechanical ventilation needs in resource-limited settings. In this commentary, we highlight additional interdependent constraints that should be considered and provide a framework for addressing these constraints to ensure that the increasing stockpile of open-source ventilators are easily deployable and sustainable for use in resource-limited settings.

Keywords: constraints; coronavirus disease 2019; mechanical ventilation; open-source; resource-limited; ventilator.