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If you want to know how to keep your critically ill loved one off the ventilator after successful extubation, stay tuned! I’ve got news for you.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, I was talking to a client this morning who has their sick 68-year old mother in intensive care after a hemorrhagic stroke. They’ve been on the ventilator with a breathing tube for 16 days and finally, they managed to get her off the ventilator and the breathing tube and successfully extubated her.  Now, the client’s daughter is worried that she won’t stay off the ventilator. What are some tools, tips, and tricks to help the mother to stay off the ventilator?

Well, number one is, you as a family member, you should be talking to your mother and encourage her to keep breathing. Take deep breaths, do some coughing, exercises and some breathing exercises. But from a clinical perspective, what needs to happen is, your family member in a situation like that needs to get mobilized as quickly as possible, needs to do some physical therapy, needs to do some deep breathing exercises, needs to be off sedation , needs to be off opiates, ideally. But more importantly, they need to be able to mobilize.

What I mean by that is, bear in mind, your loved one has been in bed for two weeks. Their lungs couldn’t really expand to their maximum potential, they couldn’t take any deep breaths because lying in bed two degrees is inhibiting taking deep breaths. So, by your critically ill loved one getting mobilized, getting out of bed, that is a really good avenue of getting lungs to strengthen, getting the lungs to expand and when the lungs expand, that’s preventing pneumonia,that’s preventing lung collapse.

But just think about this, if someone ties you down to a bed for two weeks on end, you wouldn’t be feeling right, even if you were a healthy person. So, getting out of bed, getting back to normality as quickly as possible is very important. Also, getting some nutrition back, keep eating and drinking, or your loved one may not be ready necessary to eat and drink after two weeks on the ventilator with the breathing tube. They might need some nasogastric tube nutrition, but it is important that nutrition keeps going as well so that your loved one is not losing any strength.

Other tips that I can give you is ask them to get their loved one into a shower. But if they can mobilize, get them into a shower commode, get them into a shower, and make them feel like a human. A lot more is possible than you think there is with the right attitude, with the right skills, with the right tools. Don’t let anyone dissuade you that your loved one can’t get mobilized. It’s often they’re pretending they don’t have the manpower, they don’t have the staff. But the bottom line is, this is all possible and you might have to push through because they might be complacent, and you don’t want them to be complacent to keep your loved one off the ventilator because the worst thing that can happen is your loved one needing to get reintubated. If they need reintubation, then they might need a tracheostomy, especially if they’ve already been intubated for two weeks.

So, taking the right next steps here is very important. Other things that the ICU team can do is BIPAP (Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure, for example. They can use BIPAP or CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) or also a cough assist machine.

So, I hope that helps.

I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years where I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy, and that you can verify on our testimonial section   at intensivecarehotline.com or you can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we’ve done many client interviews. That’s why we have helped hundreds of clients and members over the years since 2013 to improve their lives instantly. Like I said, we have saved many lives.

That’s why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly, and I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

We also have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care and you can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you click on the membership link or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org  directly. In the membership, 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. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded so that you can make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

All of that you get at 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.

If you like my video, subscribe to my YouTube channel  for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, hit the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video.

I able to do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on the show and you will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel or if you are a subscriber to my intensivecarehotline.com email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com.

Thank you so much for watching.

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

Take care for now.

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