Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great book for biomedical technicians
Comment: Referring to the 1999 edition...
This is a much more equipment-oriented book than most respiratory care books. Readers primarily concerned with the therapeutic-clinical side of respiratory care may prefer a different book. For readers concerned with the operation and maintenance of equipment (biomedical technicians) this book fills a huge void.
What really impressed me was the in-depth description of mechanical ventilators. Examples from the 1960's and '70's are clearly explained. Don't snicker- these babies are still in use and understanding them greatly aids understanding the newer microprocessor-controlled equipment.
If the book attempted to be a guide for both the clinical side and the equipment side, it would be 3 times larger and much less focused. I think that it is an excellent book, filling a definite void, with a pretty clear focus. The title of the book is Respiratory Care Equipment, not Respiratory Care Therapy. I will be purchasing the newer editions as they are published.
An additional note to biomedical educators:
Those who are teaching biomedical equipment courses will find this book extremely helpful. It is particularly helpful if you have on hand older respiratory equipment (still of educational value) but lack good manuals for them. This book contains enough material about many respiratory equipment models and manufacturers such that you can obtain a pretty good idea on how any other model works.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lots of images.
Comment: You know that when it comes to equipment you really need to see what they're talking about. This book has excellent images and the explanations are clear and complete so it's really understandable. The delivery and the condition of the book was wonderful.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very accurate presentation of a book.
Comment: I purchased this book specifically to develop a procedure for setting up a Bird VIP. Everything I needed was in the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: definetely equipment-oriented
Comment: Fabulous book and one of very few that goes in-depth about specific ventilators, including home-care, in-hospital adult ventilators, baby ventilators, and pretty much everything in between.Very definitely equipment oriented and should not be the only reference for the details of mechanical ventilation.
Fabulous for the beginning RT student who is just trying to grasp the principles behind mechanical ventilation without plunging immediately into the management of the ventilator itself. Great for the familiarization of the controls of the ventilators (large diagrams of the keypad layouts came in handy and were good for practice.)
Contains good clear concise information on other aspects of respiratory care, including snippets on pulmonary function tests and medical gases.
Also a great price for a giant hardcover book such as this. But it bears repeating that this should not be your ONLY reference with regards to ventilation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Really difficult to read
Comment: I think this book would be great for Registered or Certified therapists, but as a student, myself and my classmates found this to be difficult reading. We think at the student level, the techniques to therapies and how it affects the patient is more important than the mechanical parts of the machines we use. I liked the Pilbeam mechanical Ventilation book much, much more.
