Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in Intensive Care.
Currently, we’re working with a client who’s had their mother in LTAC or Long-Term Acute Care and as you’ve heard me say before long-term acute care for patients on ventilation with tracheostomy are simply a disaster.
There are no qualified staff in those LTACs. There are no ICU doctors and no ICU nurses who know what they’re doing when it comes to ventilator weaning. Now, because my client’s mother deteriorated, she ended up back in ICU anyway. Now in LTAC, they couldn’t wean her off the ventilator simply because they are lacking the skills to do that.
As soon as she was back in ICU, she improved quickly and she’s now on the verge of coming off the ventilator. The contrast in skills between LTAC and ICU is just too stark to ignore. Because anybody who’s on a ventilator with the tracheostomy simply needs an Intensive Care Nurse period. And not a person they pick off the street and let them look after patients on ventilation, that’s simply dangerous and it’s negligent.
So, my tip for today is really never let your loved one go into LTAC. If they are in LTAC, get them back into ICU and we can help you with that. That’s my tip for today, take care and I’ll talk to you in a few days.