Researchers from the University of Iowa, Boston University and the University of Connecticut worked with a team at ProtoStudios in Iowa City to make a 3D printed modification of a standard respiratory product to achieve a design that provided experimental evidence of a safe and independent way to connect multiple patients to a single ventilator.

David Kaczka, MD, PhD, associate professor in the departments of anesthesia, biomedical engineering, and radiology at the University of Iowa, says the worldwide shortage of ventilation machines forced some overwhelmed hospitals to consider treating multiple COVID-19 patients using a single ventilator.

Kaczka says the first question is safety. It needs to be safe for everyone connected to the ventilator and the patient needs to better off than if they were not connected to a ventilator.

"Any substantial alteration of one patient's respiratory system, for better or for worse, could be catastrophic for all connected patients if you don't have a way to control individual pressure and tidal volumes," Kaczka says.