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

So currently, we’re still in the COVID pandemic, and a lot of patients unfortunately end up in ICU on a ventilator with COVID-19 and the diagnosis they often get is ARDS or lung failure. They end up on a ventilator in an induced coma and they end up getting dexamethasone and other steroids, as well as Remdesivir for COVID-19 treatment.

A lot of patients also end up in prone position, especially if their oxygen requirements, whilst on the ventilator  are high. And the prone position is very taxing for a patient. They often need to be put in an induced coma, as I mentioned, but they also often need to be paralyzed. And they are getting on their tummy for often 12 to 16 hours head down so that the fluids can drain out of the lungs and help with the ARDS.

Now prone position, there’s no guarantee that it’s working and if prone position isn’t working, there are some alarm bells that need to go off for you and your family. The next step there, should be ECMO, which is basically a bypass machine attached to your loved one’s blood vessels and therefore the function of the lungs can be taken over by the ECMO machine. And that is often a good treatment and therapy option to buy time and give the lungs time to rest and heal.

Now, ECMO beds and ECMO treatment is in short supply, but if you are not doing your own research, when you have loved one in intensive care, you will be fighting an uphill battle.

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 the doctors and nurses in intensive care. And that’s where we can help you with here at intensivecarehotline.com. We are a team of professional, intensive care advocates and family consultants.

So that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go and check out intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or simply send me an email to [email protected].

Also, like this video, comment down below what questions that you have and subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get regular updates for families in intensive care.

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