Error in user YAML: (<unknown>): mapping values are not allowed in this context at line 1 column 47

---
title: Mechanical ventilation of SARS patients: Lessons from the 2003 SARS Outbreak
description: "List of things we learned from mechanical ventilation of patients during the 2003 SARS crisis that are relevant also for the COVID-19 crisis."
  
summaryText: /Readme.md
summaryImage: /summary.jpg
keywords:
  - covid-19
  - SARS
  - Medical ventilating
  - medical equipment
  - patient  
  - intensive care 
  - equipment 
  - emergency 
  - Risks
  - Lessons
  - Policies
  - Training
  - Tips and tricks  
  - treatment 
  - hospital
  - operating room
project-link: https://www.ecri.org/components/HDJournal/Pages/Mechanical-Ventilation-of-SARS-Patients-2003-SARS-Outbreak.aspx?tab=4
intend-use: >-
    tbd
made: true
made-independently: false
license:
  hardware: undefined
okh-manifest-version: 1.0.0
date-updated: 2020-03-31
manifest-author:
  name: ECRI people
  affiliation: ECRI
contributors:
  - undefined
sub-parts:
  - undefined
  - undefined
---

Title: Mechanical Ventilation of SARS Patients: Lessons from the 2003 SARS Outbreak

References:

All the information compiled here is from the ECRI

To download our repo: DOWNLOAD

This is the url of our repo : FIXME

Background & Need

In response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak (first detected in late 2019), ECRI Institute is reissuing guidance it published following the 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). We believe much of the information can also be applied to other infectious disease events. This article, originally published in June 2003, details ECRI's recommendations for mechanical ventilation of patients suffering from SARS—a practice that raises safety concerns about the virus being carried by droplets that exit from the exhalation limb of the ventilator. We recommend that breathing-circuit filters be incorporated in the exhalation limb of any ventilator used on a patient with SARS. Learn about the issues behind our recommendations and steps hospitals can take to prevent any adverse effects on ventilation.

Policies and training should include the following instructions:

• Follow the manufacturer's instructions on the maximum filter replacement interval (often 24 hours). Consider tagging the filter with the date and time that it is installed in the breathing circuit; be sure to make clear that this is the installed date, not the replace-by date.
• Make sure that the filter is correctly and securely installed so that it does not contribute to any risk of disconnection of any portion of the breathing circuit or misconnection of components.
• Install the filter before performing manual pre-use checks and automatic ventilator breathing-circuit compliance tests.
• Follow manufacturer recommendations and hospital policies for emptying water traps so as to minimize infection risks while ensuring that the trap does not overfill into the filter.
• Use care in handling and disposing of the contaminated filter.
• During ventilation, watch for signs of obstruction or increased exhalation resistance. One way to do this is to monitor the peak expiratory flow and the duration and slope of the exhaled breath on the waveform display. Alternatively, if no waveform display is available, exhalation pressure can be checked during an expiratory hold maneuver.
• Consider the use of a heated-wire circuit or a heat/moisture exchanger (HME), if appropriate, to minimize the moisture in the breathing circuit and therefore the moisture load on the filter.

Key Research Question

We have launched an emergency research project with a team of MIT Engineers and American clinicians to address the question:

What can we learn from the 2003 SARS outbreak?

Our process in approaching this question is to first identify the minimum requirements for a low-cost ventilator, based on the collective wisdom of many clinicians, design against these requirements, conduct immediate testing, report the results, iterate and facilitate discussion.