Is What We Say About LTAC Accurate? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care!

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

So, today’s tip is about, “Is what we are saying about LTAC (long-term acute care) in the U.S., accurate or not?” So, we don’t get a lot of feedback about readers that what we are saying is not accurate about LTAC. If ever, if anything, we’re talking to families that have loved ones in LTAC after ICU almost every day. And I’m obviously talking specifically about our U.S. audience here. I’m not talking about any other countries, but the U.S. here.

And I actually had an email yesterday from Matthew. Matthew is actually a critical care nurse in the U.S. and he writes to me, and I’ll read this out to you, he says,

“I’m currently a cardiovascular ICU nurse, but I started out working in an LTAC. As a fellow ICU nurse who has worked in both setting, I wholeheartedly agree with you when it comes to avoiding an LTAC. Contrary to most people understanding of what an LTAC is, the patients in these units are still critically ill.

However, the nurses caring for these patients oftentimes have patient-to-nurse ratios of 1:5 and sometimes 1:7. I personally never felt like I was achieving anything substantial for my patients while working in an LTAC setting because I was way too busy just trying to do the basics for my patients (give medications, keep them clean, and keep them alive). Everything goes at a snail’s pace in an LTAC because the staff are stretched so thin. The patients meanwhile become more at risk for hospital-acquired infections and further clinical decompensation/ deterioration.

I would definitely agree that avoiding sending anyone to an LTAC is a wise decision.

From Matthew.”

Well, thanks Matthew for leaving that comment on our website. And it pretty much confirms what we are seeing all the time, and that’s why we’re saying that you should not go to an LTAC if your loved one is in intensive care. Matthew says in his email, he can barely do the basics and LTACs advertise themselves for weaning someone off a ventilator. How can you wean someone off a ventilator if you’ve got one nurse who’s not critically care trained to potentially wean someone off a ventilator? That’s ludicrous.

Anyone who’s worked in ICU would know that it’s not possible to wean someone off a ventilator if you have a 1:5 or 1:7 ratio. I have heard of 1:10 nurse-to-patient ratios in LTAC without critical care nurses. LTACs are a disaster area. They’re the better version of a nursing home. That’s as good as it gets. They need to be banned, if anything.

They’re a design of the system and the system is failing. LTACs are designed to save money and not designed for clinical need. So, whoever’s telling you in ICU your loved one should go to LTAC, you should stop. You should contact us as a matter of urgency. We can advise of the next steps.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care or in LTAC, God forbid, please contact us 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].

Also, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, and we answer all questions intensive care related, in a membership area and via email.

If you need a medical record review, please contact us as well. We review medical records for patients in ICU but also after ICU, also in LTAC, God forbid, if you have someone in LTAC. We review patients records in real time or after ICU. But it’s better in real time so we can interpret critical data for you.

Like the video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, share the video with your friends and families, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next or whether you agree with what I just said about LTAC.

Thanks for watching.

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