3 ms·

Can one ventilation machine tube be split to two patients at the same time?

• dekhn 7y ago
  If you're asking questions like this, you are not qualified to work on problems like this. Sorry to be blunt, but- there are a million ways this would cause more problems (some obvious some not).
  • eloops 7y ago
    Have you seen the news recently? It's now being officially tested with patients in New York..
• jborichevskiy 7y ago
  It is possible, but to my understanding the risk is now that two people are sharing the same air meaning any non-Covid infections have a red carpet laid out for them to the other host. Just from what I’ve seen on Twitter/Reddit though.
  • eloops 7y ago
    Not sure why they would share the same air? Isn't "fresh" air used as input and output air from each patient goes outside? Just a thought..
    • jborichevskiy 7y ago
      Yup, that's about as far as my knowledge of ventilators goes. Hopefully someone with more comes in here!
• sigmaprimus 7y ago
  Way to think outside the box! I think it is a reasonable question to ask, I'm not sure it would work given the legal ramifications and CMA policies hospitals have. Pay no attention to the bottom comment, I rarely click that button but I believe you asked a fair question and recieved an unfair answer. Keep thinking on it and who knows, desperate times call for desperate measures.
• duskwuff 7y ago
  No. Consider that the purpose of a ventilator in a patient with compromised respiration is to support their breathing, not to fully take over for them. The two patients wouldn't be breathing in synchrony, so a ventilator would end up providing pressure that prevented one or both patients from breathing normally, rather than supporting them.
  • eloops 7y ago
    That makes sense but I think that it's still more plausible to solve a sync problem than to double the amount of machines. If that's the case then maybe the sync can be controlled somehow? Maybe (just maybe as I'm over optimistic) we could reach a problem that a mechanical engineer could solve and could potentially save many lives.. Thanks for the answer!
    • duskwuff 7y ago
      This isn't a mechanical problem. It's a biological one -- you've got two people; one of them wants to breathe in, and the other wants to breathe out. A single ventilator can't support the respiration of the patient who's breathing in without making the other one choke.
• eloops 7y ago
  Seems like it's officially being considered as an option: https://youtu.be/l3h9Z4u4icM?t=2078 https://youtu.be/l3h9Z4u4icM?t=2078