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

Today’s tip is, is it painful to have a tracheostomy?

So many families in intensive care come to us when they have a loved one in intensive care on a breathing tube or endotracheal tube and they are in an induced coma and they can’t come off the ventilator and the breathing machine and the breathing tube. So then often the next step is to have a tracheostomy and then people want to know, is it painful to have a tracheostomy?

The short answer is no. Tracheostomy is very comfortable. Most patients don’t report any pain at all. And as you may know that many patients live with tracheostomies for weeks, months, years, sometimes even for decades especially if they need long-term ventilation. So you know, one of the reasons why patients are in an induced coma when they have a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube is, it’s very painful. It’s one of the reasons for a medically induced coma.

So going over to a tracheostomy eliminates the need for sedation and an induced coma. And your loved one can be woken up pretty much as soon as the tracheostomy is done and that increases the chances to wean your loved one off the ventilator, get them out of the induced coma and so forth. Also, if your loved one does need a tracheostomy long-term and potentially needs long-term ventilation, there’s also the opportunity to go home rather than stay in intensive care long-term.

And that’s possible with a service like intensive care at home where intensive care at home provides a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in intensive care and sends intensive care nurses into the home 24 hours a day. You can check out intensivecareathome.com for that.

That’s my tip for today. This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days. Take care.