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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in Intensive Care.
This morning, I was actually talking to two clients who faced the similar situation. Basically, their loved ones had been in ICU for about two weeks on a ventilator with the breathing tube after cardiac arrests and after a stroke, so both families were faced with the situation where the ICU team eventually came up to them and they said, “Oh, we need to do a tracheostomy and then we need to send your loved one to LTAC and they hadn’t even seen that coming. The families hadn’t seen that coming. So, what does that mean? And what does it confirm?
It confirms that families in Intensive Care simply don’t know what they don’t know and they’re completely unprepared. So basically within 48 hours, their loved one’s fate and destiny could change considerably not only by having a trach but also by potentially going into LTAC.
And LTAC are disastrous. LTACs can’t look after ventilated patients with the tracheostomy. They simply do not have the skills or expertise to do that. They’re simply a cheap option for ICUs to send patients to without looking at clinical need, the clinical need for somebody on a ventilator with the tracheostomy is simply that they need ICU nurses and ICU doctors and they’re simply not available in LTAC.
So, it goes to show again, that you need to do your research and you need to get educated about Intensive Care from day one when your loved one is in Intensive Care to not be in such a difficult situation where you are potentially forced to make some decisions that you don’t know enough about.
So that’s my tip for today, do some research from day one when your loved one is in Intensive Care to avoid the pitfalls. That’s my tip for today. Take care. This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.