Collaborative and Structured Network for Maintenance of Mechanical Ventilators during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Brazil has grown rapidly since the first case was reported on 26 February 2020. As the pandemic has spread, the low availability of medical equipment has increased, especially mechanical ventilators. The Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) claimed to have only 40,508 mechanical ventilators, which would be insufficient to support the Brazilian population at the pandemic peak. This lack of ventilators, especially in public hospitals, required quick, assertive, and effective actions to minimize the health crisis. This work provides an overview of the rapid deployment of a network for maintaining disused mechanical ventilators in public and private healthcare units in some regions of Brazil during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Data referring to the processes of maintaining equipment, acquiring parts, and conducting national and international training were collected and analyzed. In total, 4047 ventilators were received by the maintenance sites, and 2516 ventilators were successfully repaired and returned to the healthcare units, which represents a success rate of 62.17%. The results show that the maintenance initiative directly impacted the availability and reliability of the equipment, allowing access to ventilators in the public and private health system and increasing the capacity of beds during the pandemic.

Application of Overall Equipment Effectiveness for Optimizing Ventilator Reliability in Intensive Care Units and Emergency Departments

“…It determined the key reason for the reduction in the rate of the OEE due to losses as a result of (76.29%) machine failure, (9.59%) setup time, (8.80%) idle time, and minor stop, and (5.29%) decrease in speed [2]. Nevertheless, in the context of maintenance policies used for ventilator devices identified the operational issues, inspection, cleaning, providing supper parts, replacing, repairing, and calibrating the ventilators to meet operational parameters [4]. OEE can be calculated using the following equations [18]:…”

“…Then reducing treatment time and total maintenance costs [21]. A study by Motta et al (2021) indicated the adoption of a successful maintenance program that contributed to the available around (62.17%) of the ventilator machine during the Corona pandemic crisis in Brazilian [4].…”

“…It is used to provide oxygenation for patients who suffer from respiratory failure [3]. They cannot breathe enough on their own due to impaired lung system functions [4]. This ventilator device is classified as a critical one by Mkalaf (2015) study as it needs complex electronic software to set different modes of ventilation [3,4,27,29].…”

“…Especially in intensive care units, accident, and emergency departments need to offer lifesaving ma-chines to patients, like ventilator equipment everywhere [3]. As the patient needs to save their life and resistance to oxygen therapy by supporting a mechanical ventilation machine due to respiratory failure [4]. In addition, the medical health supplies like diagnostic tests in the laboratory and personal protective equipment, e.g., face shields, masks, respirators, gloves, and surgical gowns [1].…”

“…Also, Motta et al, (2021) study indicated that in The Brazilian Unified Health System, the health sector had just 40,508 mechanical ventilators during the pandemic peak in Brazilian, which is not enough to support the population. As it is estimated that hospitals need another 2000 new ventilators would be needed per week at the peak of the pandemic [4]. In addition, an increasing need for home mechanical ventilation of patients for self-service at home.…”