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

So, I’ve got an email from a subscriber who says, “My loved one is in intensive care, on a ventilator and the ICU team is adding more machines and infusions to my loved one’s treatment. And I’m very confused. I’m not getting any straight answers. Can you please help?”

Well, that’s a very good question to ask, and it’s also a question we get quite frequently, that people don’t understand what’s happening in intensive care. You can’t blame them. It’s not your fault. It’s about finding out what’s really going on and it’s about getting professional help when it comes to situations like that. So let’s break this down.

The first step here is 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.

So, what does it mean when a patient in intensive care is having more machines, more treatments and infusions added to their already complex care plan or care package? Whatever you want to call it. It means that things are probably not going as well as everyone would hope for.

The reality is this, it took me 20 years working in intensive care to make these videos, and to educate families in intensive care. So it really comes down to breaking down the details. And the devil in intensive care is in the detail. When you are saying that they’re adding on more machines and more infusions, I’m not surprised because that’s what happens in intensive care.

And it’s a real puzzle that one needs to piece together. And again, that takes years of training and years of practice to really understand the ins and outs, to understand the details, and how it all links together. It’s like piecing together a puzzle. And that’s where we can help you with, here at intensivecarehotline.com.

Many families in intensive care also say things like, “Well, I’m not getting straight answers from the intensive care team to my questions.” And whilst I can confirm that, this is what happens in ICU, but it also boils down to the quality of the questions that you’re asking.

Now we published an article, an article about a couple of years ago, “What questions to ask in intensive care?” And have a look at the article it’s free. You can look it up. You can watch the video or you can read the transcript.

You will see that there are questions in there that you haven’t even considered asking. And that’s where the specialty of intensive care comes in, where you need years of training and education and years of practice to really understand it inside out. And no one expects you to understand it inside out. Just get help. Check out intensivecarehotline.com. Look up our free articles and free videos. Look up the article that is linked below, “What questions to ask?”

But the shortcut really is to talk to us directly. Then, we can get on the phone with you and the doctors. We can look at medical records and really break it all down for you. What it all means? Ask the right questions and help you with getting the best care and best treatment for your loved one and not worrying about the negativity that comes from the intensive care team.

Knowledge is only power when you actually use it. Knowledge is not power if you don’t use it. But here at intensivecarehotline.com, we can give you the knowledge that will give you power. It will give you peace of mind. It will give you influence, control, and you can actually make informed decisions.

That is my quick tip for today.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website, or send us an email to [email protected].

Also, check out our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org.

If you need a medical record review, click on the link or contact us as well.

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