201.1 Scope, object and related standards
201.1.1 Scope
NOTE 1 There is guidance or rationale for this subclause contained in Clause AA.2.
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— intended for use in an environment that provides specialized care for patients whose conditions can be life-threatening and who can require comprehensive care and constant monitoring in a professional healthcare facility;
NOTE 2 For the purposes of this document, such an environment is referred to as a critical care environment. Ventilators for this environment are considered life-sustaining.
NOTE 3 For the purposes of this document, such a critical care ventilator can provide ventilation during transport within a professional healthcare facility (i.e. be a transit-operableventilator).
NOTE 4 A critical care ventilator intended for use in transport within a professional healthcare facility is not considered as an emergency medical services environmentventilator.
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— intended to be operated by a healthcare professional operator; and
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— intended for those patients who need differing levels of support from artificial ventilation including for ventilator-dependent patients.
NOTE 5 If a clause or subclause is specifically intended to be applicable to ME equipment only, or to ME systems only, the title and content of that clause or subclause will say so. If that is not the case, the clause or subclause applies both to ME equipment and to ME systems, as relevant.
NOTE 6 Additional information can be found in IEC 60601‑1:2005+AMD1:2012+AMD2:2020, 4.2.
NOTE 7 A critical care ventilator, when operating in such a ventilator-operational mode, is not considered life-sustaining.
NOTE 8 See ISO/TR 21954 for guidance on the selection of the appropriate ventilator for a given patient.
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— ventilators or accessories intended for anaesthetic applications, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑13;
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— ventilators or accessories intended for the emergency medical services environment, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑84;
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— ventilators or accessories intended for ventilator-dependent patients in the home healthcare environment, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑72;
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— ventilators or accessories intended for home-care ventilatory support devices, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑79 and ISO 80601‑2‑80;
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— obstructive sleep apnoea therapy ME equipment, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑70;
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— continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ME equipment.
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— high-frequency ventilators, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑87;
NOTE 9 A critical care ventilator can incorporate high-frequency jet or high-frequency oscillatory ventilator-operational modes.
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— respiratory high-flow therapy equipment, which are given in ISO 80601‑2‑90;
NOTE 10 A critical care ventilator can incorporate high-flow therapy operational mode, but such a mode is only for spontaneously breathing patients.
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— oxygen therapy constant flow ME equipment; and
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— cuirass or “iron-lung” ventilation equipment.

