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

So at the moment, we’re working with a client who had their loved one in ICU for three weeks. Initially, with COVID-19 and ARDS. The ARDS  got cured, and now they’re dealing with pneumonia  and they’ve been on the ventilator for about three weeks.

Now, the intensive care team suggests to the family to consent to a tracheostomy, and then they want to shift off their loved one to LTAC or subacute care facilities. Client asks us to give input. We spoke to the nurses, we look at medical records and it looks to me like the client has been over sedated, has been on midazolam or versed, fentanyl, oxycodone, propofol and precedex. Also gets anti-psychotic drugs, such as olanzapine or Seroquel or both. So it looks to us like it’s a clear case of over sedation.

Now, you’ve heard me say it before. And I know I sound like a broken record, but I do say it again. The biggest challenges for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know their rights and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care.

So, this client had come to us 10, 14 days ago and would have asked the questions that we’re asking. Now we could have told them, well this, your family member is not heading towards the breathing tube removed because they’re over sedating them and even restraining them.

Now, the situation is that the patient is slowly waking up and is even obeying commands. They’ve done a CT scan of the brain, which showed that the brain is intact. So they are in a good position on that end to be extubated. But because they’ve been over sedated, it would be very difficult for their loved one to get off the ventilator without the tracheostomy and going to LTAC  or to subacute is just a tragedy. You may have heard me say this before.

So, the bottom line is this. You can’t do your research early enough. You just can’t. You need to start your research and you need to get external people. Look at your loved one’s situation from day one. And that’s what we are here for at intensivecarehotline.com. We are professional consultants and advocates for families in intensive care. We can give a second opinion. We can hold the intensive care team accountable with our clinical knowledge, and you should be making use of that from day one so that you can avoid situations like I just described.

Now, just throwing that in there. If your loved one is going to LTAC, you should also look at options such as Intensive Care at Home. Check out intensivecareathome.com.

So, if you have a loved one in intensive care, and I know you need help, go to intensivecarehotline.com, call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website or below this video on YouTube and, or send us an email to [email protected].

Like this video, comment down below what insights and questions you have from this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates for families in intensive care.

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