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

So yesterday, we had an email from a reader who says, “I don’t know what’s going on with my father in ICU and I need help.” So, that is a situation we see every day in our day-to-day work here at intensivecarehotline.com. So, what should you be doing?

So, it keeps coming back to that 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.

We have many families coming to us. They ask questions like, “What’s the survival rate of my loved one or the odds for survival?” Or they ask, “How long will it take to wake up after an induced coma?” That’s more specific, but it’s also very broad still. Look, I worked in intensive care for over 20 years. It took decades to learn and understand intensive care inside out. And when you ask questions like, “Well, how long will it take for my loved one to get off?” The answer will always be, it depends because it depends on many moving pieces. What are blood results? What medications is your loved one on? What’s the primary diagnosis? Have chest x-rays been done? Have abdominal x-rays been done? Have CT scans been done? MRI scans been done? Ultrasounds? What are ventilator settings? The devil is in the detail.

So, the bottom line here is this, you will need professional help to have a second opinion. You will need professional help to ask the right questions because every question that you’re asking in ICU is almost like, well, it depends on what else is happening. What other pieces of the puzzle are missing? And we can help you with piecing together the puzzle. We advocate and consult families in intensive care. We talk to doctors and nurses directly. We review medical records. As a matter of fact, that would be our strongest recommendation here is by us talking to the doctors and nurses directly, plus getting access to the medical records. You have all the leverage because then you have a second opinion, and you will be able to ask the right questions.

Having said that, you can also start by asking the right questions. I’ve made a blog post about this, “What questions to ask”, and that’s a good starting point for you. You can go down the list of questions, but you will also see that the questions are very detailed. And every answer you’re getting to a question, triggers a counter question because again, intensive care is very complex. Again, it takes decades to understand it inside out and make decisions and piece together a very complex puzzle. So, the sooner you can get help, if you have a loved one in intensive care, the better it is.

So, that’s my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to 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.

Also, if you need a medical record review for your loved one in ICU, please contact us as well. We review medical records in real time when you have your loved one in ICU, which is what we strongly recommend so that you can have data in real time, that you can ask the questions in real time with our help because intensive care teams often tell families only half of the story. And you need objective data to make your own decisions, to make informed decisions and make good decisions. We also review medical records after intensive care. If you need closure, have unanswered questions or if you’re simply suspecting medical negligence. But that’s why we recommend that we help you review medical records in real time.

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

Thanks for watching.

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