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

So, today’s tip is about, “Hospital transfers and whether they are possible.” This morning, I was actually talking to a client, and he was asking whether we could help them to transfer their mother from one hospital to another because they’re not happy where they are.

Now, the short answer is definitely, yes. This is a client in the U.S. and if health insurance is there, it’s as simple as finding another hospital that’s happy to take your mom or to take your loved one. Then, making a call between the hospitals, that’s pretty much what all it is. It’s not more complicated than that.

Obviously, what is required is that the other hospital has capacity to take a patient. Sometimes or most ICUs are full, or if they aren’t full, they don’t have staff. But the bottom line is that if you’re not happy in one ICU, you can definitely go to another ICU.

Now, before I hear you saying, “Well, you can’t transfer a patient on a ventilator that’s critically ill to another hospital.” Yes, you definitely can. There are patients being flown around in helicopters and planes from ICU to ICU all the time. So, you might as well go into a road ambulance into a critical care transfer ambulance, and you can do a transfer to another hospital. So, it’s definitely possible. There are patients being flown around with ECMO teams, on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. There are probably not many conditions where a loved one couldn’t be transferred to another hospital. So, keep that in mind. So, it is absolutely possible.

Just keep one thing in mind, you got to be certain that if you are going to another hospital that the standard of care is definitely better than the ICU you want to escape from.

Also, I would highly, highly recommend you need one doctor to talk to another doctor from one ICU to the other ICU. But I would also highly, highly recommend to you that you get access to the medical records. Again, you can help get us to help you by liaising between the two hospitals. We have done this for many clients helping them with the transfer and finding another hospital bed or another ICU bed.

I have worked as an intensive care bed manager in hospital. So, I have a very good understanding, how the system works, and it doesn’t really matter whether it’s in the U.S., or in the U.K., or in Australia, there are so many similarities.

If a hospital has capacity and has staff, they often have interest in taking another patient in. It depends on a little bit from country to country like in Australia, or in the U.K., where it’s, sort of, public health system. It’s a bit more difficult there. But in the U.S., where pretty much everything is privatized. It’s just a matter of whether they have capacity or not. In Australia and in the U.K. as well, it often helps if you are, especially if you’re in a public hospital like NHS (National Health Service) or here in Australia with public hospitals to go to a private hospital that often helps you as well to get better care and treatment.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care and you need help, go to 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.

Also, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There, 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.

I also offer 1:1 consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I can represent you in meetings with them in family meetings. Like I just said, we’re also happy to help you with a hospital transfer if that is your goal.

We also review medical records in ICU in real time and we can give you a second opinion in real time. We also offer medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence.

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, and comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care for now.