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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 expose the 3 biggest myths in intensive care as it relates to families in intensive care.

So, the first myth is that all patients in ICU are going to die. And when the ICU team tells you, “Oh, your loved one has only hours or days to live and they’re going to die”, that is, most of the time, is a myth. And why am I saying that? Because, well, nobody has a crystal ball, and nobody can look into the future. And there are situations where you can reasonably be safe to predict that someone is going to die within the next few hours. But that’s only when they’re on multiple forms of life support.

When they’re on high inotropes or vasopressor support when they’re on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), and you take all of that away and the demand for that life support is going up, at rapid rates, then yes, you’re reasonably safe to say that someone is going to die. But other than that, 90% of patients in intensive care actually do survive. So, the odds are definitely in your loved one’s favor, and you should be asking for evidence, why they are so sure that your loved one is going to die in the next few hours or next few days? Most of the time I’ve seen these predictions, they’re completely wrong. And it’s very hard to predict (A), when, and (B), if a patient is going to die in intensive care. That’s the first myth.

Second myth is that there’s no quality of life after intensive care if a patient survives intensive care. Again, what is quality of life? How can you quantify the quality of life? Quality of life is a subjective measure, not an objective measure. You can’t say you’ve got a 5 out of 10 quality of life. You have a 7 out of 10 quality of life, because that is very subjective. And whatever a patient or a family deems as a quality of life that is worth living after intensive care, that should be the odds taken and not a subjective measure from an ICU team, ICU doctor, ICU nurse. It’s your choice and your choice only.

The next myth dispelled is that ICU patients can only go to a hospital ward or hospital floor in the U.S. to LTAC (Long-term Acute Care) or they die, that there’s only two or three options. That is not accurate. So, there is now a third or a fourth option, if you will, and that is going home with Intensive Care at Home for long-term ventilated patients, predominantly with tracheostomy, but also for non-invasively ventilated patients. And also, for patients on TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition), for example, intravenous nutrition. They can also go home with Intensive Care at Home, and you should check out intensivecareathome.com for more information there.

So, I hope that helps. And also, with the notion of Intensive Care at Home, the whole notion of that there’s no quality of life at home is just simply nonsense. Because again, Intensive Care at Home provides quality of life at home, especially when it comes to long-term intensive care patients, because there’s definitely no quality of life in intensive care, but there is a much better quality of life at home with Intensive Care at Home. And again, you can find more information at intensivecareathome.com.

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 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.

If you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care or after intensive care, especially if you’re concerned about medical negligence, please contact us as well.

Also, like the video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care and Intensive Care at Home, share the video with your friends and families, 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.

Take care.