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If you want to know why PEG tubes in ICU are wrong and they have no place there, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you.

I have covered this topic many, many times that especially for our U.S. based audience PEG tubes in ICU should be an absolute exception, not the rule. There are some patients in ICU that inevitably need a PEG tube, but that should be the absolute minority and not majority of patients.

Now, my name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and this is another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, interestingly enough, I’m signing up for intensive care newsletters, I mean, my specialty is intensive care nursing, and I’m obviously very interested in what is happening in intensive care. As part of one of my email news subscriptions, I came across this advertising email that comes from a company called CoapTech.

Here is the headline, “Still waiting on gastrostomy”, which is the synonym to PEG tube (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) . So, the headline is, “Still waiting on gastrostomy” and then the email continues, “Gastrostomy for intensivist save time with percutaneous ultrasound gastrostomy (PUG).”

So, the email continues,

“Are your ICU patients waiting on specialists to get the gastrostomy done?” Gastrostomy again is the synonym to a PEG tube. “Is the delay causing increases in ICU and hospital length of stay?

Introducing the PUMA-G system for percutaneous ultrasound gastrostomy, also known as “PUG”. The PUG procedure saves time by putting gastrostomy in the hands of intensivist at the bedside. No consults, no delays.

PUG uses your existing ultrasound and familiar procedural techniques in a procedure that is simple, safe, and fast and PUG can be combined with percutaneous tracheostomy – a TPUG – concomitant procedures that save even more time and bring several clinical and economic advantages including one procedural team, single sedation event, no patient transport, improved patient throughput, reduced length of stay.

Try your hand at PUG. Click the link below or call this number to have one of our representatives contact you about scheduling a demonstration.”

That’s pretty scary stuff. It’s basically whatever this company PUMA technology under CoapTech is selling. It’s pretty scary stuff because it will fast track patients having a PEG tube in particular and their advertising that the throughput of patients will be higher i.e. patients can go to LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) much quicker in the U.S. there is.

So, it’s almost like doing a PEG tube is automated. PEG tubes on steroids almost with the goal to empty ICU beds as quickly as possible and that is just simply dangerous, and now that there’s developments to basically fast track PEG tube insertions. Once again that is wrong.

I’ve done many articles and videos about, “Why you shouldn’t give consent to a PEG tube in ICU.” A nasogastric tube is perfectly fine. There’s enough research out there to back up what I’m saying, there’s enough research out there that says, you don’t need a PEG tube in ICU. A nasogastric tube is perfectly fine and it’s also safer and it’s not a procedure.

A nasogastric tube is just an insertion, it’s much less traumatic. So, only patients in ICU that have shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that they can’t come off the ventilator ever should have a PEG tube.

Now, if your loved one just had a tracheostomy, there’s a high chance they will be able to wean off the ventilator. There’s absolutely no need for a PEG tube.

Well, what the advertising email isn’t saying is that a PEG tube in healthcare has the perception of permanency, i.e., a PEG tube is being looked upon as this is a permanent thing, which also suggests that a patient with a picture will never eat and drink again.

It also suggests that we don’t need to worry about nutrition anymore. We just give it through the PEG, and no one will make genuine attempts to wean patients off ventilation and tracheostomy, that will then inevitably lead to patients eating and drinking again.

It’s very scary stuff and it’s even more scary that the advertising basically talks about faster patient throughput. There’s no talk about how it improves a patient’s life. It talks about how it improves the hospital’s lives and how it improves the doctor’s lives. There’s no talk about how it improves the patient’s life.

Now, the only patients that need a PEG tube inevitably are patients with C1, C2, C3 spinal injuries or complete spinal injuries in particular, cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease, Rett Syndrome. Those patients need PEG tube inevitably, no doubt. But most patients in ICU do not need a PEG tube.

In the U.S., in particular, most patients that end up with a PEG tube and the tracheostomy, the hospitals are trying to send them out to an LTAC facility and LTAC are dangerous places. I’ve made countless of videos about that. Once again, why is the advertisement not talking about patient benefits? It’s only talking about hospital and doctor benefits. It’s not talking about patients benefits because there are none. Otherwise, you would advertise this as a win-win situation but there are no benefits besides benefits for the hospital.

If someone has a nasogastric tube, it’s temporary. People need to keep working on weaning someone off a ventilator and the nasogastric tube feed so they can start to eat and drink again. So, it’s a very, very different dynamic and it should not be about the throughput and length of stay for the hospital. It should be about what is best for a patient. There’s no talk about this here what is best for a patient. Scary stuff.

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 in intensive care. 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 with our consulting and advocacy, and you can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can also verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews.

That is why we helped hundreds and hundreds of members and clients over the years to improve their lives instantly, including saving their loved one’s life when they’re critically ill in intensive care.

So, and that’s also why we created the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You could become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com by clicking 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 me, and you have exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded. All of those resources will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence so that 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 can’t afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly on your behalf or with you, 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 video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, click the like button, click the notification bell, 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 the show. You will get notification 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.