TY - JOUR T1 - Ventilating two patients with one ventilator: technical setup and laboratory testing JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00256-2020 VL - 6 IS - 2 SP - 00256-2020 AU - Frans H.C. de Jongh AU - Heder J. de Vries AU - Rob S.P. Warnaar AU - Eline Oppersma AU - Rudolf Verdaasdonk AU - Leo M.A. Heunks AU - Jonne Doorduin Y1 - 2020/04/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/6/2/00256-2020.abstract N2 - During health crises, including terrorist attacks or pandemics like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the number of mechanical ventilators might fall short of the number of patients with severe respiratory failure [1–3]. A possible emergency solution is to ventilate multiple patients with one ventilator. Sharing ventilators was applied anecdotally during the 2017 Las Vegas (USA) shootings and has raised interest in lay media with the current COVID-19 pandemic [4]. However, ventilating two patients with one ventilator can be dangerous when incorrectly applied. Different setups have been published online, but none have reported any technical safety testing.With a modified circuit, it is feasible to ventilate two patients with one ventilator over a relevant range of compliances. Adding inspiratory resistance allows individual titration of tidal volume, and incorporating one-way valves prevents pendelluft. https://bit.ly/3ex8SYP ER -