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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, “Weaning off elderly patients in ICU.” And the reason for this video is that again, we had an email from a subscriber who says, “My dad’s 82 in ICU. He’s got a pneumonia and he’s got issues weaning off the ventilator, and he will most likely need a tracheostomy. Should I be concerned at his age of weaning off the ventilator?” And that’s a great question to ask. Look, generally speaking, one might say that weaning for the elderly is more difficult than weaning for the younger patients in ICU.

I guess that is fair to say on a broader scale. However, my experience in ICU, which is over 20 years of intensive care nursing experience in three different countries, where I have also worked as a nurse unit manager in ICU for over five years. And I’ve been consulting and advocating for the last 10 years here at intensivecarehotline.com families all around the world in intensive care. But weaning for the elderly, generally speaking, is more difficult. It’s more challenging compared to a younger patient population. However, it is still possible.

I’ve seen many, many patients in ICU that are “elderly” being weaned off the ventilator successfully. And I’ve seen some younger patients not being able to be weaned off the ventilator and they ended up with a tracheostomy and they might have gone home with services like Intensive Care at Home to continue care and treatment at home instead of a long-term stay in intensive care.

The same is applicable for elderly patients. Some of them can be weaned off the ventilator, some of them can’t. But again, looking at the statistics, approximately 90% of patients in intensive care survive.

Now, to be honest, I do not have statistics of how many patients can successfully be weaned off the ventilator in ICU. But from experience, from hands-on experience, it’s the overwhelming majority mechanical ventilation, either with a breathing tube or with a tracheostomy should be a short-term endeavor. Nothing more than that.

Of course, here at intensivecarehotline.com, you will hear me talk a lot about ventilation weaning, especially about long-term ventilation weaning, because if your loved one is in ICU and they get weaned off of ventilator, you probably won’t even be looking at our website because you probably don’t need help. You need to get on with your life, which is a good thing. So, most likely, if you are watching this video, your loved one might be in intensive care, might be struggling to get off the ventilator, but you have come to the right place.

So, generally speaking, in all age groups, yes, young, fit, and healthy always helps. Elderly, maybe not so fit could be a struggle, but then again, we had a lady last year, I remember she was in ICU for at least three weeks or something like that. She was in her early nineties, and she had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), she also had a mild heart attack, and she was on a ventilator for over three weeks, escaped the tracheostomy and got extubated successfully and went home. And that was partly due to our advocacy because, again, the ICU was pushing for a tracheostomy at the time, was a U.S. client, and they wanted to send her to Long Term Acute Care (LTAC), whereas we put on the brakes and said, “Well, you better wean this client off the ventilator and the breathing tube and avoid LTAC”, which is exactly what they did in the end.

So, a lot of it comes down to asking the right questions. The question here shouldn’t be, can my dad wean off the ventilator if he’s 82? The question should be, what needs to happen to wean your dad off the ventilator if he’s 82? That should be the question. And with that question in mind, you approach this subject very differently, way more positively. You’re looking for options, not for limitations.

Look for options, not for limitations. It’s easy to get bogged down. It’s also easy to get bogged down if you’re having intensive care teams telling you all about the negatives rather than, again, looking for options. If intensive care is telling you, “Well, we can’t wean your dad off the ventilator.” Well, my next question is, “Tell me the ventilator settings. Tell me arterial blood gases, tell me what’s happening. Let us look at the medical records.”  That is my approach to a question like this.

So, if you have a loved one in intensive care and you are looking for options, 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].

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 a membership area and via email and we are answering all questions, intensive care and Intensive Care at Home related.

That was the other thing that I wanted to say, that especially, and if patients can’t come off the ventilator, God forbid, and have a tracheostomy, then you should be looking at Intensive Care at Home and continue treatment and therapy at home. Please have a look at intensivecareathome.com. We are currently mainly operating all around Australia, but also starting out in the U.S.

Now, if you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care in real time, please contact us as well. And if you need a medical record review after intensive care because you need closure, you have unanswered questions, or you’re simply looking for medical negligence, we can help you with that as well. But we highly recommend that we review medical records in real time so that you can have a second opinion in real time.

Now, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, give the video a like, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below what questions and insights you have from this video or what topic you want me to make a video about.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.

Take care.