How to Choose an ICU Ventilator

Start with the patient population

Adult-only units have materially different requirements from units ventilating neonates or small paediatric patients. Low-tidal-volume accuracy, trigger sensitivity and appropriate circuit sizes are decisive for small patients and merely nice to have for adults.

If the unit ventilates neonates, make that a mandatory requirement rather than a scored one.

Modes: which are actually used

Every modern ventilator lists an extensive mode set. In practice most units run a small subset consistently.

Confirm the modes your clinicians genuinely use, and that those are implemented well. A long mode list is a weak differentiator; a well-implemented core is not.

Monitoring and weaning

Graphics quality, loop display, trend storage and weaning support determine how usable a ventilator is at three in the morning. Where capnography or oesophageal pressure monitoring is required, verify integration rather than assuming it.

Consumables are the real cost

Circuits, filters, sensors and water traps recur for the life of the unit. Proprietary consumables with a single supply route are a long-term commercial exposure.

Calculate five-year consumable cost at your actual patient volume before comparing purchase prices. The cheaper ventilator is frequently the more expensive one.

Oxygen, air and power realities

Confirm the unit operates correctly on your actual gas supply pressures. Where a facility relies on concentrators or cylinders rather than piped medical gas, verify compatibility explicitly.

Battery endurance matters wherever mains supply is interrupted — including during intra-hospital transfer.

Service, training and parts

Ask where engineers are based, the response commitment, whether loan units are available during repair, which parts are held locally, and what training is provided for both clinicians and biomedical staff.

A ventilator out of service is a bed out of service.