title: Intensive care ventilators.
abstract: Intensive care ventilators provide temporary ventilatory support to critically ill patients who cannot breathe on their own or who require assistance to maintain adequate ventilation. These ventilators offer a wide range of capabilities and can meet the needs of many types of patients. We last evaluated intensive care ventilators for adult use in our July-August 2000 issue. In the current Evaluation, we revisit the ratings of nine previously evaluated ventilators and describe our findings for one newly evaluated unit, the Siemens Servo-i. As ventilator technology has evolved, so have our ratings. Several units have added new features and capabilities since we last examined them. As a result, we have rated them higher in this study. Conversely, a few models have been given lower ratings because they haven't kept up with the advances in the technology; although they perform adequately, we can no longer recommend their purchase because better choices are available.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003422:Critical Care / Q000191:economics; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000379:methods; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D012122:Ventilators, Mechanical / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics