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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.
Today, I want to talk about a client that we’re currently working with, who has been in intensive care for three months, then went on to LTAC after he’s been diagnosed with COVID and now he’s been in LTAC for about another three months and he still can’t come off the ventilator. So what does that mean?
It means that, unfortunately, the health insurance is putting pressure on the client’s family to move him into a skilled nursing facility and this is really devastating news because the client is very young and probably will come off the ventilator in due course. And the family is now, of course, looking at options such as Intensive Care at Home, which makes a lot of sense because Intensive Care at Home would be a much better option, much more proficient than LTACs.
As you’ve heard me say before, LTACs are literally just a waste of time, really. LTACs are not getting people off the ventilator with my experience, it’s just not happening. The best place to wean someone off the ventilator is just simply intensive care or Intensive Care at Home.
Intensive care units or Intensive Care at Home has intensive care doctors, intensive care nurses and just has all the expertise available that it takes to wean someone off the ventilator, just as simple as that. LTACs are just there to save money, but they’re not designed for clinical need and it’s a real issue. It’s a real challenge that LTACs are not designed for clinical need.
Now, if you’re looking at our client, the health insurance is now putting pressure on the family to send him to a skilled nursing facility. When someone weans off the ventilator, they need a one-to-one nurse-to-patient ratio. They need intensive care doctors, intensive care nurses, in the US they need respiratory therapists. They need physical therapists that are familiar with ventilation and tracheostomy, and in a skilled nursing facility, that’s even worse than LTAC.
It’s almost like even LTAC is the better version of a nursing home and a skilled nursing facility is just a euphemism for a nursing home.
So my tip for today is really to not leave intensive care if your loved one is ventilated and can’t come off the ventilator yet because they won’t certainly be able to come off the ventilator in LTAC. They need solutions such as staying in intensive care or use Intensive Care at Home. Check out intensivecareathome.com.
That’s my quick tip for today. Check out intensivecarehotline.com if you have a loved one in intensive care or in LTAC, call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website.
Like this video, comment down below what questions that you have and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.