The iFixit community is asking for help obtaining ventilator repair manuals amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. iFixit is building a database of repair information about hospital equipment but it needs help.
Heroic medical teams around the world are either dealing directly with or preparing for an onslaught. The American Hospital Association forecasts predict that COVID-19’s impact will be unprecedented. They anticipate that 4.8 million patients may be hospitalized, with 1.9 million of those admitted to the ICU, and 960,000 requiring ventilatory support. The Society of Critical Care Medicine anticipates that U.S. hospitals could absorb between 26,000 and 56,000 additional ventilators during the pandemic.
Ventilators are machines that mechanically breathe for patients who are too weak to breathe for themselves. With COVID-19, many patients develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)… We are learning from China and Italy that these crucial ventilators are being heavily utilized—many ventilators are running non-stop… Due to heavy use and accelerated wear and tear, these lifesaving machines are breaking down.
Biomedical technicians (biomeds for short) are the repair experts at hospitals, and in many regions they are stretched thin. There are a wide variety of machines made by a number of different manufacturers at hospitals around the world, and there is no single resource for how to repair all of them… Biomed forums are frequently populated with requests for specific PDF service manuals.
Our biomed technicians’ time is too precious to waste on internet Easter-egg hunts. iFixit is building a central resource for maintenance and repair of hospital equipment. We need help from fixers everywhere, medical professionals, and biomedical technicians to make sure this is as robust, relevant, and useful as possible.
MacDailyNews Take: Thank you, iFixit for thinking of this idea, organizing these ventilator repair manuals, and executing this herculean task! Find out what is needed from the medical community and from everyone else who want to help here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Ladd” for the heads up.]
IFixit, YOU ROCK! God bless you and everyone who supports this cause, And all of you medical professionals on the front line!
THANK YOU!
You’d think that with all their technological prowess and supply chain savy, Apple could do more in this crisis, hopefully they are but it’s just behind the scenes.
How accurate would a thermometer in your Apple watch be? Maybe in the not too distant future we’ll get an alert when our temperature spikes or oxygen level drops.
Good for iFixit.
Any smb engineers out there? I was just about to close the works door, all machinery having been mothballed and sealed for the duration and glanced at the 3D printers we have. On a hunch I rang my local hospital, asking if they needed any replacement parts that were needed to keep older medical equipment going. I was surprised when I got a list of flanges, gaskets, hose connectors, valves – many of which I can make in a few hours. Just what I needed, to be useful.
So, if just a few skilled folks who can work alone, offer their services, that would make a difference.