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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, another huge success story that I want to publish today. We are currently working with a client who had their loved one in LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) and didn’t know that LTAC was bad to begin with. They didn’t know that LTAC was not the right place to send their loved one to begin with until they’ve done their research, and they saw our information here, watched some of the videos, read some of the blog posts and realizing, “Oh! LTAC is a really bad idea.”

Anyway, so we started reviewing medical records. We found that the client really has poor cardiac function, has a poor ejection fraction. We were digging through the medical records and found out what else was going on in terms of heart function, poor heart function, poor kidney function, pleural effusions probably need a chest drain, low hemoglobin, low albumin; all needs input from specialists such as cardiology, such as hematology, nephrology, and those specialists are clearly not available in LTAC.

So, we’ve made an argument with the client to the hospital to send the client back to ICU. Lo and behold, they all agreed. So, like I’ve been saying for the longest, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know their rights and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care, which is exactly what this example is all about.

You need to have professionals on your side who understand the medical language, who understand the healthcare system and understand how this can be moved in the right direction so that you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, but also making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment, which they certainly won’t get in LTAC.

Also, the other risk there was that LTAC was already talking about sending this gentleman to a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF). So, you’re going from LTAC which is pretty bad. You’re going from bad to worse. So, we were able to put a stop to all of that. Part of the problem in LTAC is that patients only get given a window of 30 days, sometimes a 60-day window, to wean off the ventilator and the tracheostomy. If they can’t achieve that, which most can’t because LTAC are not proactive, they don’t have the skills or the staff to achieve the outcomes for their patients.

Next thing, they want to shift them off to LTAC to a Skilled Nursing Facility or to subacute to save money, but certainly not focused on getting good outcomes for patients. It’s all about shifting patients around and shifting money around rather than focusing on good outcomes.

So, again, another success story that we can put on our belt. If you want to get great outcomes for your loved one in intensive care or in LTAC, if you want to find out are they doing all the right things, and if they’re not getting some advocacy around that you’ve come to the right place!

That’s why we created the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com by you clicking on the membership link, you can become a member there or you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in the membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related. You also have access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos exclusive for our members, and those eBooks and videos exclusively talk about how to manage doctors and nurses, what questions to ask, how to get better outcomes, how to negotiate, giving you a crash course really in intensive care so that you can manage this incredibly difficult territory.

I have worked in intensive care and critical care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse unit manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I have been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care for nearly at for nearly 11 years now, since 2013. I can say with much pride, we have saved lives.

You can verify that on our testimonial section on our website at intensivecarehotline.com, or you can verify it with some client interviews that we published on our podcast section on our website at intensivecarehotline.com.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care. I talked to doctors and nurses directly. I talk to you and your families directly, of course. You will see that the dynamics will change in your favor, something that you thought prior, you could not get a handle on. All of a sudden, we bring together for you and making sure the intensive care team can’t keep you at arm’s length because they often do if you let them, but it’s all a matter of taking responsibility. So, I offer the one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams if you talk to them that you have clinical representation there. Without it, your loved one won’t get best care and treatment, I can guarantee you that. Being in hundreds, if not thousands of those family meetings, I know exactly what they’re saying, what they’re not saying, and strategizing with you that you actually do have a strategy when you go into those meetings. 99.9% of families in intensive care have no strategy whatsoever in a life-or-death situation that you can’t afford to get wrong.

We also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also offer a medical record review after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected].

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I will talk to you in a few days.

Take care for now.

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