Data automated bag breathing unit for COVID-19 ventilator shortages.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global mechanical ventilator shortage for treatment of severe acute respiratory failure. Development of novel breathing devices has been proposed as a low cost, rapid solution when full-featured ventilators are unavailable. Here we report the design, bench testing and preclinical results for an 'Automated Bag Breathing Unit' (ABBU).

Critical-thinking ability in respiratory care students and its correlation with age, educational background, and performance on national board examinations.

Background: Critical thinking is an important characteristic to develop in respiratory care students.

Methods: We used the short-form Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal instrument to measure critical-thinking ability in 55 senior respiratory care students in a baccalaureate respiratory care program. We calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient to assess the relationships between critical-thinking score, age, and student performance on the clinical-simulation component of the national respiratory care boards examination.

Delivered oxygen concentrations using low-flow and high-flow nasal cannulas.

Introduction: Nasal cannulas are commonly used to deliver oxygen in acute and chronic care settings; however, there are few data available on delivered fraction of inspired oxygen (F(IO(2))). The purposes of this study were to determine the delivered F(IO(2)) on human subjects using low-flow and high-flow nasal cannulas, and to determine the effects of mouth-closed and mouth-open breathing on F(IO(2)).

Methods: We measured the pharyngeal F(IO(2)) delivered by adult nasal cannulas at 1-6 L/min and high-flow nasal cannulas at 6-15 L/min consecutively in 10 normal subjects.