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If you want to know if your critically ill loved one always needs to be on humidification when they’re having a tracheostomy in intensive care, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So today, I want to talk about whether you’re critically ill loved one with the tracheostomy always needs humidification. The short answer is yes. Let me illustrate this in a case study.

Today, we are currently working with a client who has their loved one in intensive care. Their loved one initially went into ICU with a cardiac arrest, hypoxic brain injury. They’re told from the start that their loved one wouldn’t survive and even if they did survive, they wouldn’t have any “quality of life”.

Now, the family pretty quickly questioned the clinical judgment of the intensive care team because they could see that their loved one was surviving. Then they pushed for tracheostomy successfully to give their family member a chance, a chance to live.

Once again, you always need to question what’s the hurry to kill someone in intensive care? What’s the hurry? What’s the urgency? What’s the urgency to kill someone?

So, in any case, the client got successfully weaned off the ventilator and now he is having a tracheostomy and is swallowing, having the cuff down. It’s coming very, very close of having the tracheostomy removed. That was also after the family has been told if their family member is going to survive, they’ll always be dependent on other people, and they won’t have any “quality of life”. Once again, their critically loved one is now walking, talking, eating, drinking, and they will be having the tracheostomy removed most likely in the next few days.

So out of that came a question whether their family member always needs humidification with the tracheostomy and the short answer is yes. Here is why, when a healthy person breathes in through the nose, air is automatically getting humidified, that is part of the anatomical function of a nose. 

Now, when someone is having a tracheostomy, the nose is bypassed completely, i.e., air or oxygen is not humidified and if air or oxygen is not humidified, secretions will dry up and it’s easier for a chest infection to build up. Therefore, a patient with a tracheostomy always should have humidification.

Now, that can come in two forms. One is a humidifier or with nebulizers or with a Swedish nose or an HME filter, that’s another option for humidification. But the short answer is always, there always needs to be humidification. Worst case scenario is that secretions dry up and then the tracheostomy blocks.

Now, I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I’ve worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all around the world since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. 

I can very confidently, very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where you can listen to or watch what our clients say, how we help them save their loved one’s lives.

We have helped hundreds and hundreds of members and clients over the years to improve their lives instantly, to save their loved ones’ lives, to improve their situations in no time with our strategies, consulting, and advocacy. 

That’s why we also created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. 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 have exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. You will get access to all these resources if you are a member. The membership will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the 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 and 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.

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.

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on a show. You will get notifications for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my email newsletter or if you are a subscriber to my intensivecarehotline.com email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com.

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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