About the jfish Project

The jfish project seeks to encourage the use and development of free anaesthetic monitoring technologies. Our goal is to produce free and open technology to provide safe and reliable anaesthetic monitoring anywhere in the world the need exists.

In its simplest form the project seeks to develop a range of low-cost modular anaesthetic monitors, usable as stand-alone devices or interfaced together with a cheap notebook computer to form an anaesthetic workstation. The project aims to design and build a complete system providing a peripheral nerve stimulator, pulse oximeter, electrocardiograph and capnograph for less than US$200.

Stage 2 of the jfish project is complete, with the research, design and construction of a free hardware/open source peripheral nerve stimulator (PNS). Version 1 of the jfish PNS is a standalone battery-powered device suitable for monitoring neuromuscular blockade in a developing world setting. The open design allows for easy addition of extra functionality and integration with other systems as desired.

In a broader context the project seeks to empower developing-world medical communities by providing open access to modern medical monitoring technologies: access to their use, their construction, methods of their maintenance and freedom to extend such technology so as to meet local needs. The core philosophies of the project are those of openness, freedom and sharing.

To facilitate our aims, the jfish project hosts several mailing lists which aim to encourage communication between anaesthetists, engineers and others interested in both developing and developed-world settings. These lists cover discussion both focused on the jfish project itself, as well as discussion of greater issues facing anaesthesia in the developing world.

• Design guides and schematics for standalone hardware, such as for the jfish peripheral nerve stimulator.
• Design schematics for computer-interfacing hardware.
• Integrated operating system (jfish GNU/Linux) and anaesthetic monitoring software (jfish work-station and software modules) for use in the integrated jfish anaesthetic workstation.
• Source code for all project software and firmware.
• Detailed instructions for system construction, maintenance, extension and production of consumables.
• Documentation of underlying science, clinical use, monitoring applications and indications for use of monitoring technologies.
• Access to donated notebook computers, pre-built hardware modules, complete systems and training time where the need exists.
• All hardware, software and documentation is licensed under the relevant open source license.