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.
So something that we’re observing and I’ve also observed it in over 20 years of working in intensive care is simply when patients are on a ventilator in an induced coma, and they have a nasogastric tube in the nose and they get nasogastric feeds, they need to be sitting up 30 degrees otherwise, the risk of aspiration is just too big.
So what that basically means is, if patients are lying flat while they’re on a ventilator in an induced coma, and they’re having nasogastric tube feeds going in, and if they are lying flat, the risk of vomiting and aspirating gastric content into the lungs is very high and they would then often end up with aspiration pneumonia.
So the number one goal for someone in intensive care in an induced coma, on a ventilator is to come off the ventilator and get out of the induced coma. If they’re aspirating stomach content because they’re lying flat and not sitting up 30 degrees at the minimum, that goal is jeopardized by simply the risk of aspiration pneumonia.
So go and watch when you have a loved one in intensive care. Make sure they are sitting up at least 30 degrees when they have feeds going in and 99% of ventilated patients in intensive care have nasogastric feeds going in. So watch out for that to make sure your loved one is on the track to be weaned off the ventilator without any complications.
That’s my quick tip for today.
You can check out intensivecarehotline.com if you have a loved one in intensive care, call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website.
Like this video, comment down below what questions that you have and subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates for families in intensive care.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.