In response to the shortage of ventilators, respiratory equipment, and personal protective equipment, people throughout the entire maker community are working on designing and manufacturing cheaper alternatives.
As a result, the medical device industry has come under more scrutiny. People have realized that most medical equipment is rather simple at its core. However, this is a double edged sword. They have also realized that medical equipment is expensive for a reason, and that a lot of thought goes into designing the equipment for a vast variety of patients and scenarios.
It’s a surprising dichotomy.
Brian McManus, from the YouTube channel Real Engineering, provides some excellent constructive criticism on the open source maker efforts. He explains exactly why ventilators are complex devices that need to take into account a large number of factors, such as the breathing rate and air flow of patients. The vast majority of simple low-cost “ventilator” designs simply don’t take these other critical factors into account and are instead automated BVMs. Of course, we don’t want to disparage the community effort, but it’s important to keep this in mind.
Dossier
“A Guide to Designing Low-Cost Ventilators for COVID-19,” by Real Engineering, April 4, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vLPefHYWpY
“How to Help Your Hospital (Fight COVID-19 Locally) – Smarter Every Day 233,” by Smarter Every Day, April 7, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEj7M3aZIg
“Do Some Surgical Implants Do More Harm Than Good?” by Jerome Groopman, April 13, 2020. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/do-some-surgical-implants-do-more-harm-than-good
Nasima
Short and nice reality.