How innovations are reshaping medical ventilator manufacturing

Medical ventilators are one of the most prominent life-saving tools in healthcare and their origins trace back to historic times. Several generations of production have led to the equipment and knowledge we use today. Manufacturers produce many types of medical ventilators, including face masks, mechanical, manual resuscitator, and tracheostomy variations, all of which are invaluable for modern medicine.

The innovations and evolutions have not stopped there. In fact, many groundbreaking innovations are reshaping medical ventilator manufacturing, effectively changing the game. Explore some of those new solutions in this article. Here are five innovations in the medical ventilator manufacturing field that are worth keeping an eye on.

1. Non-invasive medical ventilators
Even with modern advancements, intubation and sedation are still necessary in various scenarios to set up medical ventilators for patients. While these processes have evolved with modern technology, they can still be uncomfortable and troublesome as they are invasive procedures.

However, it is possible to change this during the manufacturing stage, particularly by creating devices that employ non-invasive measures. For example, a relatively new, non-invasive medical ventilator has been developed that utilizes air pressure delivery administered through a nasal cannula or face mask instead of an intubation tube. They’re easier to install or remove, more agreeable to patients, and apply to unique situations, like homecare or portable use. They can also be equipped with medical-grade compressed air systems to ameliorate delivery.

Some examples of these non-invasive types of medical ventilators include the Philips Respironics Trilogy EVO or the ResMed Astral 150.

2. Wearable medical ventilators
Due to internal components or designs, ventilators are often bulky or require additional equipment that prevents portability and mobility. Thanks to modern innovations, that may no longer be the case. Wearable ventilators, in both invasive and non-invasive formats, can reasonably travel, allowing patients to return to some of their everyday experiences.

They can also be leveraged for reliable home ventilator care, untethering patients from traditional medical or hospital settings. Such developments can even reduce the burden on local hospitals and healthcare centers, as patients can be dispatched safely rather than remaining in intensive care. Of course, that means factoring in a smaller, lightweight design during the development stages and manufacturing the systems under unique conditions—taking into account traits like weight, size, power consumption, and effective air delivery.

An example of these types of medical ventilators is the Life2000 Ventilation System from Breathe Technologies.

3. Adaptive support ventilators
With most ventilators, what you see is what you get—they’re rather simple, operating in a few basic modes to help patients breathe freely. But sometimes, that one-size-fits-all approach is not beneficial in medicine, as patient needs can fluctuate depending on how their bodies react. This can be difficult to account for when designing and crafting ventilator systems.

Manufacturers using more intelligent solutions, like smart monitoring or IoT-inspired computer support, can provide a whole new list of capabilities. Adaptive support medical ventilators actively monitor patient vitals—like respiratory rate, tidal volume or inspiratory times—and adjust support automatically to match their needs in real-time. It’s a personalized approach to mechanical ventilation to combat volutrauma, barotrauma, and ineffective or prolonged weaning issues with traditional ventilation devices.

Moreover, since the systems can keep pace with the patient, it results in less demanding or fewer one-on-one critical care requirements.

Adaptive support ventilation (ASV) is not necessarily a specific type of ventilator device but a capability available on various systems, such as Hamilton Medical’s commercial ventilators and beyond. It’s up to manufacturers to provide these capabilities with organizations like Hamilton, Fisher and Paykel, Philips, and Medtronic at the forefront of these advancements.

4. Smart and energy-efficient ventilators
Like many other devices today, medical ventilators have also earned the “smart” treatment, outfitted with intelligent sensors, data-driven software and advanced algorithms to understand patient needs better. Additionally, they can be more efficient by optimizing power usage to reduce their operational carbon footprint.

Manufacturers can opt to use more efficient materials during development, like silicon carbide or gallium nitride over standard silicon. These two materials can help reduce heat and power dissipation, ultimately boosting efficiency, but they are more expensive than alternatives. That presents a small dilemma—pay more now to build efficient systems, pass the savings on to the customers, or keep things the way they are while losing many efficiencies.

Similar to ASV, smart ventilators are not a specific type but a collective feature added to modern devices by manufacturers that many hospitals and healthcare centers already use today. One of the most significant benefits of these intelligent and remotely operable medical solutions is that they ease the burden on healthcare staff, allowing them to oversee patient vitals and take action when necessary. Local notifications and alerts can keep them vigilant during an emergency, especially when a facility is near or over capacity.

When such devices require rare-earth metals, manufacturers must have a full understanding of mineral demands and supplies. IoT-connected devices and intelligent data components, like those used inside efficient ventilators, do have physical resource demands and challenges to consider.

Improving care, easing professional burdens, and saving more lives
Ultimately, these groundbreaking innovations in medical manufacturing enable unprecedented care, improving quality, reliability and reactivity. In addition to saving lives, it will also vastly improve the healthcare industry’s optimization. Fewer one-on-one or demanding care situations will arise, meaning healthcare professionals have more time to prioritize life-saving care elsewhere. But that puts a burden on product manufacturers to prioritize their capabilities, pushing the boundaries of efficiency and functionality via design-level changes.

Smart medical ventilators have integrated sensors to inform nearby nurses and practitioners, with some automatically adjusting lung mechanics to match patient needs. So, it’s not a stretch to imagine medical robots taking over inessential duties, with monitoring relegated to human counterparts. But all of these electronics do have physical resource requirements, like the procurement and usage of rare or expensive materials.

Some good news is that 3D-printing efforts are underway, which means we could very well see custom-assembled devices for use at home, in emergencies, and at healthcare centers across the world. For manufacturers that could even reduce the cost of development, prototyping, and mass assembly.

Finally, for those who do need ventilators to thrive, there are many more opportunities—like effective home care—thanks to mobile-friendly and more capable devices. They no longer have to remain within the confines of intensive care facilities, which is always a welcome benefit, no matter how unexpected. These advancements are largely made possible thanks to vigorous testing and redesign of what would otherwise be bulky, somewhat unmanageable solutions—we have manufacturers and industry proponents like you to thank for that. Medical Product Outsourcing