The need for ventilators at U.S. hospitals has been well-documented, but what if nursing homes—which have roughly 8,200 of the devices at their disposal—could come to the rescue?
State officials are working to consolidate ventilators where they are most urgently needed. But so far, the supply in nursing homes has not drawn the same attention. Or course, commandeering those units would set up a monumental ethical dilemma: Do you remove life support for a long-term nursing care patient in order to give a COVID-19 patient a better chance of survival?
The highest number of machines, about 2,300, is in California, where the state has created designated nursing home units for people on life support, officially called subacute units but known pejoratively by some doctors as “vent farms.” New York has the second most, 1,822, according to state officials.
Read the full article on Kaiser Health News.
Caveat: Non-ICU ventilators do not natively support delivering the Fi)2 (>=90%) needed to support covid patients. The ones used in the home and non_ICU care settings typically operate by sucking in room air. Some include ways off adding supplemental oxygen, but most if not commercial units do not support high concentrations of O2. Manufacturers and other groups are working to address this. At a minimum, the manufacturer of any commercial unit should be consulted re: any hazards that may be associated with repurposing a home ventilator to deliver high Fi)2, e.g., ignition hazards.