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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have peace of mind, real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making fast, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive Care!
In last week’s blog I talked about
You can check out last week’s blog by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s blog I want to start a three part mini-series and in each part I share the most valuable and crucial insights that are the most relevant when families have a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care.
The next parts of the series I will send out over the next couple of weeks, so watch the space…
Why do I do that? I do that because I learned and still learn many valuable lesson in more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing in three different countries, where I literally worked with thousands of critically ill Patients and their families!
And I want to share those lessons with you, because I believe you and your critically ill loved one will benefit from those critical lessons!
I have also worked as a Nurse Unit manager in Intensive Care for more than 5 years and I have learned so many lessons, I have seen so many things happening “behind the scenes” in Intensive Care, that I really want to share with families in Intensive Care.
However this three part series is really a summary of what I believe are the things that are a “must- know” for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care!
Today I want to start with Part 1 of the series and today’s insight is
Critical lessons for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, Part 1
INTENSIVE CARE is a multi-Billion Dollar($$$) per year Industry!
Before I get into today’s topic, I want to share a quote with you that I wrote on today’s topic and the quote says
Money makes the world go round… or so they say. This couldn’t be more true in Intensive Care! An Intensive Care bed costs between $4,000-$5,000 per bed day in most first world countries and a highly profitable industry has grown in this niche that is Intensive Care!
Therefore the stakes in this multi-billion Dollar($$$) are pretty high.
The stakes are very high for critically ill Patients and their families because they are often dealing with life or death situations and the stakes are pretty high for Intensive Care teams too, because every decision they are making or not making impacts on other people’s lives, as well as the bottom line.
That’s why it’s so important for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, that they not only read between the lines and that they also start doing their own research and start asking the right questions!
Whatever the Intensive Care team says or doesn’t say and whichever way the Intensive Care team positions your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis you should always take it with a grain of salt and you should always do your own research, question things and most of all stand your ground!
The minute you and your family feel intimidated by the “perceived power” and the “perceived authority” of the Intensive Care team, that’s the minute when you have become a victim of this multi-billion Dollar $$$ per year industry!
Now let’s dive into part one of our mini-series
INTENSIVE CARE is a multi-Billion Dollar($$$) per year Industry!
As I said in the quote in the beginning, Intensive Care really is a multi-billion dollar $$$ per year industry!
The wheels that are in motion in Intensive Care are way bigger than your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis.
The wheels that are in motion in Intensive Care are way bigger than you and your family can ever imagine and the wheels that are in motion in Intensive Care by far exceeded what I expected when I first started working in Intensive Care in 1999. In fact I was completely blind to it.
No matter what’s happening “behind the scenes” in Intensive Care, you and your family should never take your eyes off your critically ill loved one and their diagnosis and their prognosis if you want to have peace of mind, control, power and influence!
No matter the things happening “behind the scenes” in Intensive Care, your job as a strong and the best advocate for your critically ill loved one is to always question the Intensive Care team’s approach, no matter the status of their “perceived power” and their “perceived authority”.
The minute your critically ill loved one is in one of the following situations in Intensive Care and the minute they are either
that’s the minute when the Intensive Care team is also doing the maths or counting the numbers so to speak…
They are not telling you of course, but every word they say, every word they don’t say, treatment and care they offer or don’t offer and most of all the positioning of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis are always almost a result of “doing the maths”, counting the dollars $$$ and by looking at the bigger picture in their Intensive Care Unit.
This often includes looking at what other Patients are in their Intensive Care Unit, how long they anticipate their stays to be, looking at whether treating certain Patients is of interest of the Intensive Care team and the list goes on and on…I’m only scratching the surface here…
Unless you have spent decades working in Intensive Care like I have, those things are not evident or visible to you and your family and you can’t see these things…It’s all happening “behind the scenes”!
Recommended:
Medical research in Intensive Care and what you need to know about it!
Another big issue that I have seen over and over again is that medical research in Intensive Care is way more prevalent than families in Intensive Care would think.
What do I mean by that?
Well, medical research studies in Intensive Care are everywhere and they are often conducted without Patients or families consent.
Medical research is another multi-billion dollar $$$ per year Industry on top of Intensive Care and it’s another revenue driver for Intensive Care Units.
It’s also a positioning tool for Intensive Care Units when publishing medical research papers.
That could mean that your critically ill loved one is enrolled in a medical research study without you or your critically ill loved one knowing, let alone with you or your family having given written or verbal consent…
And it all happens in the name of “science”.
Now if you’re really thinking about it, depending if your critically ill loved one is enrolled in a medical research study or not, often also impacts on the positioning of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis by the Intensive Care team.
The Intensive Care team has an interest in performing the medical research no matter what, because at the end of the day it’s a numbers game for them. The more Patients are in a medical research study, the higher the likelihood that they complete the studies and more Dollars $$$ will follow…
Is medical research ethical?
Whether the medical research is ethical or not is another question and I could write another article just about medical research.
The bottom line is this:
With Intensive Care being a multi-billion $$$ Dollar per year industry, the minute your critically ill loved one enters the Intensive Care Unit, that’s the minute they are part of something much bigger than you and your family could ever imagine.
Just do your own maths for a minute, let’s just say your critically ill loved one is in a 10 bed Intensive Care Unit and one Intensive Care bed on average costs $4,500 per bed day. Multiplied by 10, it costs $45,000 per day to look after Patients in those Intensive Care beds and it costs approximately $16 Million Dollars per year to look after those Intensive Care Patients.
That’s why you really need to take everything with a grain of salt that the Intensive Care team is telling you or not telling you and that’s why you need to be on high alert when your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!
Recommended:
If you are on high alert, chances are that you can very quickly distinguish yourself from the 99% of the families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care and you will have peace of mind, control, power and influence.
Continue to be blind to the moving forces in Intensive Care and you’ll belong to the 99% of families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no peace of mind, no control, no power and no influence!
Watch out for part 2 of this mini series in the next few days
Critical Intensive Care lessons for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, Part 2
How can you become the best advocate for your critically ill loved one and how can you get peace of mind, control, power and influence quickly, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care?
You get to that all important feeling of PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE when you download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report NOW by entering your email below!
In Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report you’ll learn quickly how to get PEACE OF MIND, real power and real control and how you can influence decision making fast, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care! Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” Report gives you in-depth insight that you must know whilst your loved one is critically ill or is even dying in Intensive Care!
Sign up and download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT now by entering your email below! In your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT you’ll learn how to speak the “secret” Intensive Care language so that the doctors and the nurses know straight away that you are an insider and that you know and understand what’s really happening in Intensive Care! In your FREE report you’ll also discover
- How to ask the doctors and the nurses the right questions
- Discover the many competing interests in Intensive Care and how your critically ill loved one’s treatment may depend on those competing interests
- How to eliminate fear, frustration, stress, struggle and vulnerability even if your loved one is dying
- 5 mind blowing tips& strategies helping you to get on the right path to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence in your situation
- You’ll get real world examples that you can easily adapt to your and your critically ill loved one’s situation
- How to stop being intimidated by the Intensive Care team and how you will be seen as equals
- You’ll get crucial ‘behind the scenes’ insight so that you know and understand what is really happening in Intensive Care
- How you need to manage doctors and nurses in Intensive Care(it’s not what you think)
Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog and I’ll see you again in another update next week!
Make sure you also check out our “your questions answered” section where I answer your questions or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
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Also check out our Products section where you get more Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings and where you can also get 1:1 consulting with me via Skype, over the phone or via email by clicking on the products tab!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
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Patrik Hutzel
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