In an effort to characterize the performance of self-inflating resuscitators, three examples of three models were subjected to laboratory testing: the Ohio Hope II resuscitator (Ohio Medical Products, Madison, WI), the PMR-2 resuscitator (Puritan Medical Products, Lenexa, KS), and the Laerdal resuscitator (AS Laerdal, Stavanger, Norway). The devices were connected to a test lung and compressed at frequencies of from 10 to 60 and at greater than 60 breaths per minute at 5, 10, and 15 L/min of flow. These devices were used with and without a reservoir and were compressed at less than and more than the pop-off valve pressures. The results revealed that all devices equipped with reservoirs delivered a significantly higher oxygen concentration than those without (P less than .001), and that activation of the pop-off valve significantly reduced Fio2 under all conditions (P less than .005). The pop-off valves for each device were activated throughout a wide range of pressures, the Laerdal 41 to 72 cm H2O, PMR-2 51 to 97 cm H2O, and the Ohio Hope II 38 to 106 cm H2O, well in excess of the manufacturer's specifications. Only the Laerdal with reservoir was able to deliver an Fio2 of greater than 0.9 when compressed at more than the pop-off valve pressure at rates of up to 30 breaths per minute using flows of 10 L/min, and it was the only device to produce Fio2 values of greater than 0.9 at all rates to 60 breaths per minute when compressed at less than the pop-off valve pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)