title: Mechanical ventilators in US acute care hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The supply and distribution of mechanical ventilation capacity is of profound importance for planning for severe public health emergencies. However, the capability of US health systems to provide mechanical ventilation for children and adults remains poorly quantified. The objective of this study was to determine the quantity of adult and pediatric mechanical ventilators at US acute care hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 5,752 US acute care hospitals included in the 2007 American Hospital Association database were surveyed. We measured the quantities of mechanical ventilators and their features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responding to the survey were 4305 (74.8%) hospitals, which accounted for 83.8% of US intensive care unit beds. Of the 52,118 full-feature mechanical ventilators owned by respondent hospitals, 24,204 (46.4%) are pediatric/neonatal capable. Accounting for nonrespondents, we estimate that there are 62,188 full-feature mechanical ventilators owned by US acute care hospitals. The median number of full-feature mechanical ventilators per 100,000 population for individual states is 19.7 (interquartile ratio 17.2-23.1), ranging from 11.9 to 77.6. The median number of pediatric-capable device full-feature mechanical ventilators per 100,000 population younger than 14 years old is 52.3 (interquartile ratio 43.1-63.9) and the range across states is 22.1 to 206.2. In addition, respondent hospitals reported owning 82,755 ventilators other than full-feature mechanical ventilators; we estimate that there are 98,738 devices other than full-feature ventilators at all of the US acute care hospitals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The number of mechanical ventilators per US population exceeds those reported by other developed countries, but there is wide variation across states in the population-adjusted supply. There are considerably more pediatric-capable ventilators than there are for adults only on a population-adjusted basis.
authors.affiliation: National Disaster Medical System, 409 C Street, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20224, USA. lewis.rubinson@hhs.gov
authors.forename: Lewis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rubinson
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kallstrom
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.forename: Tabinda
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burney
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hupert
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mutter
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Handrigan
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yeskey
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lurie
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Branson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult