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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.
So many families in intensive care come to us very short notice and they say, my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, my spouse has been in ICU for three days. And they haven’t really given us an update and now tomorrow, they want to have a family meeting. And they say, what should I do?
Well, the short advice is, you should go and you should only go to a family meeting if you have the agenda in writing and you should only go if you have an advocate present. Why does the intensive care team want to meet with you? Why can’t they tell you when you’re there at the bedside? You know how it’s going. Why would they have to sit you down in the meeting room? Probably only because they want to deliver bad news and if you’re not prepared, they will walk all over you.
They will have an agenda, and they will push that agenda through at any costs. And 99% of families in intensive care are not prepared for a family meeting. That’s also where we can help because you will need advocate to understand the clinical side of intensive care so you know what questions you need to ask so we can help you prepare for such a meeting.
And again, you should only go if you have an agenda in writing. If the intensive care team doesn’t want to give you an agenda in writing, your first question is what do they have to hide? Right? If they can’t be open and transparent with you? What do they have to hide?
So that is my tip for today. Please check out our case studies at intensivecarehotline.com. If you have a family member in intensive care, contact us so we can help you get results if your family member is in intensive care, get the best outcome for your family member through our advocacy and consulting. Give us a call on one of the numbers on the top of the website or send me an email to support@intensive carehotline.com with your questions.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.