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0 pointsJshWright6y ago0 comments

The other issue is that an ambu-bag doesn't work the same way a ventilator does, and can't provide the functionality that a critically ill respiratory patient would need. It can shove air into the lungs, but it can't manage pressures during the other phases of ventilation (which are equally, or even more, important).

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psKama6y ago

> but it can't manage pressures during the other phases of ventilation (which are equally, or even more, important).

Can you please elaborate on this? What pressures and what phases are involved? The author explicitly calls for help and input from people to make it more functional and easier to built. Maybe your concerns can be addressable and they would be helpful. In Italy doctors have to pick who to connect ventilators as they don't have enough number of them. This thing has the potential to save at least 1 more patient if not thousands.

JshWrightOP6y ago

It's a physical limitation of the bag style ventilation, it's not something you could design around by squeezing the bag differently.

For instance, the amount of "back pressure" during exhalation is important when managing ARDS patients. The ambu-bag can only exert pressure when it is being actively squeezed, and you can only squeeze it so far.

m0zg6y ago

> In Italy doctors have to pick who to connect ventilators

I've read that this was exaggerated by the media. A doctor said that they _may at some point have to_ pick whom to treat, which the press has interpreted as them writing death warrants to those over 80.

ashes-of-sol6y ago

Decisions about who to put on a ventilator are happening daily in Italy. It is no exaggeration

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