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If you want to know when your family member is stable enough to go from one ICU to another ICU, stay tuned! I’ve got news for you.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I have another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So today, I have an email from Aziza, who says, 

“Hi Patrik,

The hospital refuses to send my dad to another ICU in another hospital by telling the social worker that my dad is not stable enough to be transferred.

However, for the past three months, they’ve been trying to send him to the step-down ICU, and I have been successfully refusing. I was trying to get him home, but they blocked that because he’s on a ventilator with a tracheostomy. 

So, now I’m pushing to get him to another ICU locally that he can get better treatment, so that I can feel comfortable while visiting my dad, because I’m very stressed. They were calling me, and they were harassing me, then they were trying to get guardianship over my father when I have the power of attorney over my father.

I wanted to know if you can help me get my dad home or transferred to another ICU.”

I don’t know the ins and outs besides your dad with being on a ventilator with a tracheostomy, so let’s break this down for you.

First off, you need to know that your dad, without having looked at the medical records, I argue, is stable enough to go to another ICU and here is why I’m saying this so confidently. Patients are being flown by helicopter or via air ambulance on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) machines, on ventilation, on inotropes, on vasopressors, and they’re hemodynamically unstable. There are specialized teams that focus on air transfer, so it sounds to me like your dad would sort of go down the road to another ICU.

Three years ago, we have actually helped a client of ours to go on an airplane from Melbourne in Australia to Beijing in China on a ventilator with a breathing tube, so that is definitely possible. You can’t tell me that your dad is not stable enough to go to another ICU down the road where he could go into a road ambulance. Yes, he needs a specialized crew. They need to be ventilated and tracheostomy competent, a team of ICU paramedics, a team of ICU doctors, and a team of ICU nurses. So, it’s all doable.

Do not give up your guardianship, by the way. Don’t let anyone bully you, because I think they’re the bullies, not you. Good for you that you’ve been standing up for your dad not to go to a step-down ICU. I don’t know the exact reasons why you wanted to avoid a step-down ICU, but you probably will have your reasons, and good for you to succeed there. 

If the ICU is telling the social worker that he’s not stable enough to go to another hospital. Well, you got to get the receipts, you got to know why. But it’s also concerning that they’re telling that to a social worker who’s not clinical and who wouldn’t even know what they’re talking about.

So, what’s next from here? Get the bed organized in another ICU. It often does require a phone call or a verbal or a written referral from the current ICU to the other ICU but it sounds to me like there’s friction, there’s potentially conflict, so you’re probably better off getting into another ICU. We can help you with that, like we have done with many other of our clients, helping them to find better care and treatment.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is 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. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

In terms of home care, can your dad go home? Most likely, yes, with Intensive Care at Home, of course. But again, I would need to look at the medical records, I would need to know more whether he can, or he can’t go home. But it sounds to me like he’s ready to go home if he’s off inotropes or vasopressors, hemodynamically stable, then he can go home on a ventilator with a tracheostomy, hands down, especially if they want to move him to a step-down ICU and you can find more information at intensivecareathome.com.

So, I hope that helps Aziza.

I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries, where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that on our intensivecarehotline.com testimonial section. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews. I can also very confidently say that our advice is absolutely life-changing. Once again, that’s all documented in our testimonial section and the podcast section at intensivecarehotline.com. 

We have changed many lives for the better. We have saved many lives. You can join a growing number of members and clients to where we help you to improve your life instantly so that you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

That’s why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over this phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply cannot afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly if you want me to, either with you on a call or I talk to them directly or I set you up with the right questions to ask. When I do that, I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care, if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

We also have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, and you can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you click on the membership link or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in the membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related. In the membership, you also get exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. In the membership, you’ll get all your questions answered.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

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Thank you so much for watching.

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

Take care for now.

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