Intensive care ventilators.
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.
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