ELSEVIER Special Issue on Open-Source COVID19 Medical Hardware
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COVID19 is currently spreading exponentially throughout the world. Governments are taking increasingly drastic measures to slow the disease in order to prevent our medical infrastructure from being overwhelmed. Roughly 10-20% of those that contract COVID19 require hospitalization and often need intense care. If COVID19 infections proceed at the current rate there will not be enough medical hardware available to prevent the higher mortality rates now observed in Italy. There is thus a desperate need for medical hardware to help treat COVID19 patients. Today, with the evolution of digital manufacturing technologies such as 3-D printers and circuit milling systems, we can share designs with others who can then replicate medical-grade devices for the cost of locally-sourced materials. Large groups of makers, engineers, and medical professionals are already collaborating on the web to make open source medical devices, such as ventilators, to have a fast and easy solution that can be reproduced and assembled locally worldwide. However, there is a concern in the medical community about using these devices without some assurance that these devices will operate as intended and not do harm. This special issue is dedicated to vetting the technical specifications and reproducibility of open medical hardware that can help during this global pandemic. Due to the urgency all articles will be rapidly peer-reviewed, published open access upon acceptance, and all article processing charges will be waived.
We are specifically looking for hardware that: 1) can be digitally manufactured using accessible low-cost fabrication tools like 3-D printers and 2) those that can be readily constructed from widely accessible materials and simple tools (e.g. DIY hardware store sourced).
Examples include: Ventilator Machines, Negative Pressure Rooms (Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms – AIIR), Oxygen Concentrators, Pulse Oximeters, Flow-Splitter for Oxygen Supplies, Flowmeters, Nasal Prongs / Nasal Cannulae, Flexible Nasal Catheters, Oxygen Masks, Non-Contact Thermometers, N95 Respirators, and Powered Air Purifying Respirators.
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