The Pressure Cuff Emergency Ventilator was created by Aisen Caro Chacin, Ph.D. and Christopher Zahner, MD at the UTMB MakerHealth space, a fabrication lab where hospital nurses, doctors, and staff prototype medical devices at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX.
In response to the urgent need for ventilators during the COVID-2019 crisis, we created an emergency ventilator prototype that can be replicated by appropriating equipment from the medical supply closets located in each hospital unit. This design allows for medical staff to improvise care should the need arise for more ventilators. The design consists of a blood pressure cuff that is actuated by medical air and vacuum ports located in each patient room. The air inflates the cuff, squeezing an Ambu bag, and the vacuum quickly releases the air; this is repeated to achieve the desired, 300-600 tidal volume within 20-30 rpm. This mechanism is controlled by an Arduino UNO, an H-bridge, and two electro-mechanical valves. Ideally, hospitals can partner with community maker groups to create the microcontroller portion easily and the hospital staff can improvise the medical supply portion of the device.
Non-FDA-approved devices may not be safe for patient use. We are creating a study to be approved by our Internal Review Board (IRB) to receive an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) and to allow us to collaborate with other hospitals to enroll high-risk patients and engineering partners to upgrade the initial prototype and test this new method for emergency patient ventilation. We can expect the study to be approved in two weeks after submission. We could increase the number of ventilators by 2-fold over the current number. The current non-medical supply cost is $105.25.
People who want to help---- ATTN: Medical & Engineering Volunteers
[ Ссылка ]
