The Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Association for Respiratory Care, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, American Association of Critical‐Care Nurses, and American College of Chest Physicians issued a consensus statement on the concept of placing multiple patients on a single mechanical ventilator.
- Due to safety concerns, the joint statement suggests that facilities and clinicians should not attempt to ventilate multiple patients with a single ventilator.
- Attempting to ventilate multiple patients with COVID‐19 could lead to poor outcomes and high mortality rates for all patients.
- In accordance with the triage decisions often made in medical crises, it is better to purpose the ventilator to the patient most likely to benefit than fail to prevent, or even cause, the demise of multiple patients.