The Vanderbilt Open-Source Ventilator: From Napkin Sketch to Ready to Save Lives in Three Weeks

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has placed enormous strain on global health care due to the sudden and exorbitant caseload burdens, compounded by insufficient access to the requisite supplies and equipment necessary to treat patients. Most notably, critical shortages of mechanical ventilators, which are essential for oxygenating patients who cannot breathe on their own, have forced physicians to make difficult decisions between who will and will not receive treatment, especially in resource-limited communities. In this article, we describe the efforts undertaken by a consortium of engineers, roboticists, and clinicians from Vanderbilt University to develop an easily reproducible mechanical ventilator out of core components that can be sourced locally, inexpensively, and en masse.