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 Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: How Can I Decide if the ICU Team has Done Everything They Can for My Critically Ill Mother in ICU? 

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

So yesterday, I had an email from one of our clients, Joanne who says, “How can I decide if the ICU team has done everything they can for my critically ill mother in intensive care?” Now, that’s a question or similar questions we get all the time and I want to address it here.

So, the only way really, you can decide whether the ICU team has done everything they can is (A), by getting a second opinion, (B), by making sure you are asking all the right questions and you look out for the answer.

So, you might have heard me say this before here on this blog, 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 and that’s exactly what you’re dealing with here.

So, for example, when you and I get on a call with the doctors or the nurses, I ask questions you haven’t even considered asking. So, when a patient is in intensive care, there are dozens of things happening simultaneously and unless you piece together a very complex puzzle, it’ll be very difficult for you to ascertain whether the intensive care team has done all the right things or not.

So, for example, I have worked in intensive care for over 20 years in three different countries. As part of here at the intensivecarehotline.com, me and my team, we combine decades of intensive care nursing experience. So, of course, with that experience behind us, we know exactly what to look for. We know exactly what questions to ask. We have published so many blog posts here that if you look at all the blog posts, you can piece together the puzzle of what questions to ask.

However, the shortcut is that you and I get on a call with the doctors and nurses and then I can ask questions on your behalf. You will see that I ask questions you haven’t even considered asking. After over 20 years working in ICU as a critical care nurse in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse unit manager in intensive care for over five years, I’ve been consulting and advocating families all around the world for over 10 years now as part of my intensivecarehotline.com consulting and advocacy services. Of course, I know what to ask. I know how to read the situation. I know how to represent you so that you get the best care and treatment for your mom and so that you can make informed decisions, get peace of mind, control, power, and influence. It’s critical for you that you can do that at all times.

Now, other things we do as part of our consulting and advocacy service is review medical records. If we do that in real time, you have a second opinion in real time. Then, we can tell you in real time whether the ICU team is doing everything they can to help your mother get out of intensive care alive.

We also know that the intensive care teams are negative by default. The only way for you to challenge that is by asking the right questions, by talking to someone who understands intensive care inside out just as they do and counteract their negativity with all the right questions and with advocacy.

If you want help with that, we have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can find that at intensivecarehotline.com and at intensivecaresupport.org. There, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in a membership area and via email and we answer all questions intensive care related.

I also offer one on one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, via Skype, via Zoom, via email. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. Once again, I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

Do not go into family meetings with intensive care teams without having me there because otherwise you won’t stand a chance. They know what to say, they know when to say it, they know how to say it, to get their agenda over the line, but you have your own agenda to get over the line and that is way more important and it’s all that matters. So, one way or another, I can help you with that have a look at our podcast section where I have some testimonials from families that we worked with. We literally saved lives. It’s no exaggeration with our consulting advocacy.

Now, we also offer medical record reviews in real time. If you need a medical record review in real time, please contact us as well and we can give you a second opinion in real time. We also offer medical record reviews after intensive care if you need closure, if you have unanswered questions, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence. Please contact us as well at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected].

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

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care.

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