It is a device to be inserted in a patient in cardiac or respiratory arrest, or to control a patient's breathing during respiratory compromise. The patient is then manually ventilated or mechanically ventilated with a machine

Currently, there are more than 326,000 arrests each year in the United States with over 200,000 additional arrests occurring in the hospital; Worldwide, there are more than 135 million arrests per year and numbers are only increasing.

The most common reason is infection; more specifically pneumonias. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a matter of concern in many countries, including the United States. Bacterial growth on endotracheal tubes is a key component in the pathogenesis of VAP which afflicts an estimated 250,000 patients each year and is associated with high morbidity (36,000 deaths). VAP extend ICU stays and are thereby very expensive.

The per case cost is between $10,000 and $25,000 per case to manage Multiplying by the 250,000 cases per year yields a total US healthcare burden between $2.5 billion and $6.25 billion.

Trained medical providers such as Paramedics and Doctors.

The likely reason is countries who did not possess certain knowledges of medicine or equipment are slowly obtaining these necessitates as well as population growth (i.e. 3rd world countries).

Over 50 million people are intubated every year worldwide.