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

So currently, we are working with a client who has had their loved one in LTAC in the United States, and of course, their loved one went back to ICU as we always predict. That when patients leave intensive care in the first place and go to LTAC and are really vulnerable, and most patients that leave ICU and go to LTAC are incredibly vulnerable. Now, this lady has bounced back into ICU just as we predicted because it wasn’t far too early discharge, and it was simply unsafe.

But anyway, cutting a long story short, this lady is now back in ICU on a ventilator with a tracheostomy and she’s got an infection and she’s gone into kidney failure. And the ICU team says that dialysis is not an option for her even though she’s gone into kidney failure.

And I think what I’m really trying to do today is break down the terminology that often dialysis and hemofiltration or CRRT, also known as Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy, are used interchangeably and dialysis is not the same than hemofiltration or CRRT.

So, what it means is most patients in ICU for kidney failure have hemofiltration, and it’s not the same than dialysis. It’s much smoother. Dialysis is often a quick onset of kidney therapy or dialysis, and it often gets patients to crash, especially if they’re unstable. Whereas hemofiltration is much more gentle and you can remove fluids very slowly and you can basically remove toxins from the kidneys or in the bloodstream very slowly and give the kidneys time to recover. And that is pretty much the difference.

So, you need to understand that when intensive care teams talk about dialysis in intensive care, they don’t necessarily mean dialysis. They might actually mean hemofiltration and that most patients in ICU can tolerate. Whereas dialysis, not every patient in ICU can tolerate, but hemofiltration can often be tolerated, especially if patients are not on inotropes or vasopressors if their blood pressure is stable. So, I hope that helps that you need to clarify terminology in ICU so that you know what your options are.

As I keep saying over and over again, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply 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 what we are here to help you at intensivecarehotline.com.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, 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 answer all questions intensive care related.

Also, if you need a medical record review in intensive care for your loved one, please contact us as well. We review medical records in real time in intensive care or after intensive care, especially if you’re suspecting medically negligence. But it’s much better if we can start reviewing medical records while you have your loved one in intensive care so we can break down clinical data in real time for you and make it understandable for you.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, and also for a YouTube live every week where you can ask questions on a YouTube live. Also, share the video with your friends and families, click the like button, click the notification bell, and comment below what questions and insights you have, or what you want to see next.

Thanks for watching.

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