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

So today’s quick tip is about antibiotics in intensive care, whether they should be completed for the full course. And the reason this question has come up, we’re currently working with a client who has their loved one in ICU for over six months now, and he keeps getting recurring infections, including septic shocks. And then the intensive care team then starts antibiotics depending on the bacteria they’re finding. And the family is now asking us, should they complete the antibiotics every single time because the infections seem to be recurring. And my answer to that question absolutely is the course of antibiotics always needs to be completed to completely kill off any bacteria. And there’s not much more to add to that.

Now this particular client is asking why do the infections come back? Now this particular client is ventilated, has a tracheostomy, has multiple comorbidities, is prone to bleeding, has had liver failure and so forth. And my answer to that question is because he’s been in ICU for so long he’s very weak, he’s immunocompromised to a degree, and ICU is a highly infectious environment. So what is the answer to that question? Why does he keep getting infection? What’s the solution to that? Well, the solution to that is look at a service like Intensive Care at Home and you can find more information at intensivecareathome.com. Because at Intensive Care at Home, we can look after patients at home instead of intensive care and minimize infection.

A home care environment is a clean environment. There are no other patients that are sick and infectious because that is the biggest risk in ICU. There are other infectious patients and, doctors, nurses, and just the environment brings infections to another patient easily. And that’s why patients often end up with another infection on top of the one they just had previously.

So that is my quick tip for today.

Solution to the problem here is intensivecareathome.com. Have a look there now.

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, and we answer all questions intensive care related.

Also, if you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care and you need a second opinion in real time, please contact us. We can get started with that straight away. And if you need a medical record review after intensive care, please contact us as well. Especially if you’re suspecting medical negligence or you need closure, we can help you with either of that.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Share the video with your friends and families. Click the like button, click the notification bell and comment below what you want to see next, or what questions and insights you have from this video, or whether you agree or disagree.

Thanks for watching.

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