A
bag valve mask, abbreviated to
BVM and sometimes known by the proprietary name
Ambu bag or generically as a
manual resuscitator or “self-inflating bag”, is a hand-held device commonly used to provide
positive pressure ventilation to patients who are not breathing or not breathing adequately. The device is a required part of
resuscitation kits for trained professionals in out-of-hospital settings (such as
ambulance crews) and is also frequently used in
hospitals as part of standard equipment found on a
crash cart, in emergency rooms or other critical care settings. Underscoring the frequency and prominence of BVM use in the United States, the American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care recommend that "all healthcare providers should be familiar with the use of the bag-mask device." Manual resuscitators are also used within the hospital for temporary ventilation of patients dependent on
mechanical ventilators when the mechanical ventilator needs to be examined for possible malfunction, or when ventilator-dependent patients are transported within the hospital. Two principal types of manual resuscitator exist; one version is self-filling with
air, although additional
oxygen (O
2) can be added but is not necessary for the device to function. The other principal type of manual resuscitator (flow-inflation) is heavily used in non-emergency applications in the operating room to ventilate patients during anesthesia induction and recovery.