Mechanical Ventilation with Bag Valve Mask (BVM)

Lead: Alex Waslen Members: Ryan Yan, Arito Wada, Kyle Kallin, Connor Schellenberg, Melissa Coleman

Conception of Design

The bag valve mask (BVM) ventilator designs are very common in the open source community due to the high availability of BVMs and their simplicity of use. BVMs are used as an emergency resuscitation device, so they’re already designed to deliver pressure and volume to a patient. Converting them for use in longer term ventilation is just a matter of designing a system to squeeze the BVM in place of a human.

How does this design work?

The general concept of any BVM squeezing device is to repeatedly squeeze the bag to deliver air to the patient. The device is generally able to vary the respiratory rate and the tidal volume depending on the needs of the patient.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this design?

It is important to keep in mind that a BVM squeezing device is not a proper ventilator, and lacks the majority of the functions that a true ventilator provides. The advantages of the BVM squeezing device are that it is cheap and relatively easy to produce, and can provide the most basic ventilation functions - delivering a volume of air to the patient at a certain rate. The disadvantages of these designs are the lack of control over the pressure at which the air is delivered, and the lack of sophisticated patient monitoring systems.

How challenging is it to produce this design at a larger scale?

Scaling up BVM squeezing devices is manageable due to the simplistic nature of the devices. The devices tend to use components that are not used in the medical supply chain which means they won’t interfere with production of other valuable medical supplies. 

How tough do you think it would be to secure the necessary certifications from Health Canada?

We foresee it being very difficult for a BVM squeezing device to gain regulatory approval from Health Canada. The point of these devices is to be manufacturable in low resource settings as a possible last resort, and they lack many of the requirements that an approved ventilator would need. That being said, it is still worthwhile to develop the design of these devices to contribute to the open source effort as they could one day be sophisticated enough to gain regulatory approval.

If you somehow had all the funding necessary, how do you think it would help you prepare for the worst with this design?

With unlimited funding, we would be able to enlist the help of design, testing and manufacturing firms to finalize a design that would meet the minimum requirements for use in a worst case covid scenario. 

Why did you join the team?

Alex Waslen:

I joined the team because the covid crisis is a major threat to public health and it presents a good opportunity for novel engineering solutions to be used in healthcare. People from all over the world have come together to contribute to open source projects that have the potential to save lives, and that’s really exciting.

Connor Schellengberg:

I joined the team because I wanted to apply my engineering skills and resources to help those in the community who need it.

Arito Wada:

I wanted to help and have an impact on the covid crisis at hand rather than wait around to hear news about the situation. I enjoy engineering design and want to learn from experienced engineers and medical professionals.

Melissa Coleman:

Being an engineering student, the UBC SOS eVent team provides a unique opportunity to apply technical skills to a real life project. I joined the project team because I wanted to be a member of a group that is actively developing new and creative ways to make a difference in the midst of the covid pandemic.

Kyle Kallin:

I joined this team because I saw the opportunity to make a real difference in both my country and the rest of the world.