Ventilation apparatus

A method of ventilating a patient comprising:

• controlling an actuator, in accordance with a prescribed value for a respiratory parameter, to compress an inflatable bag to cause oxygen and/or air to flow out of an output valve of the bag, the respiratory parameter being tidal volume, pressure, volume limit, peak pressure, I:E ratio, inspiratory time, and/or breathing rate of the oxygen and/or the air flowing through the output valve;
• sensing the pressure flowing through the output valve, and sending a pressure signal to the controller;
• sensing flow rate through the output valve, and sending a flow rate signal to the controller;
• adjusting the compression of the actuator as a function of the flow rate signal and/or the pressure signal to adjust the tidal volume, pressure, volume limit, peak pressure, I:E ratio, inspiratory time, and/or breathing rate to be in accordance with the prescribed value.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, establish processes for performing a computer-implemented method of activating an actuator to ventilate a patient, the processes comprising:

• receiving an input of a prescribed value for a respiratory parameter;
• controlling an actuator coupled to a paddle having a convex contact surface to compress an inflatable bag to cause oxygen and/or air to flow out of an output valve of the bag in accordance with the prescribed value for the respiratory parameter;
• interfacing with (1) a pressure sensor that measures the pressure of the oxygen and/or the air flowing through the output valve, and/or (2) a flow rate sensor coupled to the output valve and configured to determine the flow rate of the oxygen and/or the air flowing through the output valve;
• receiving a pressure signal from the pressure sensor and/or a flow rate signal from the flow rate sensor;
• adjusting the controlling of the actuator to compress the bag with the convex contact surface to put the output value for the respiratory parameter in accordance with the prescribed value.