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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Why Your Critically ill Loved One in Intensive Care Needs to be Mobilized as Early as Possible! 

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care. So today, I really want to focus on why it is so important in intensive care that a patient can get mobilized as quickly as possible.

So picture this, someone is in intensive care, your loved one probably, on a ventilator, either with a breathing tube or with a tracheostomy. It doesn’t matter in both situations, mobilization is very, very important.

So picture this, your loved one is lying in bed for days, weeks, and potentially months on end. And the only movement they have is the nurses moving them from side to side. So their skin isn’t breaking down, they’re not getting pressure sores. But at the end of the day, the lungs are never in a position where they can fully expand because they’re always restricted by patients lying in bed.

And especially when it comes to ventilation weaning, one way to increase the chances of successfully weaning your loved one off the ventilator is simply by expanding those lungs. By making sure the lungs don’t collapse and that there won’t be an infection.

Now imagine you’re sitting up, you can expand your lungs just by breathing in and breathing out. Probably imagine you’re trying the same lying down, especially when you’re sick. It’s not going to happen. It won’t be effective.

Now, there is some research out there in the 1980s and before then, when patients were going, elderly patients in particular, when they were going into hospitals for a hip replacement, many of them died of pneumonia and you know why? Because the approach at the time was not to mobilize patients and they all ended up with pneumonia because they’ve been lying in bed for far too long rather than getting them up.

Now, they changed, practice completely in hospitals after hip replacements, they’re getting them out pretty much day one. And it’s the same for a ventilated patient in ICU. It’s probably even more important. So once you’re sitting up, you can expand your lungs, the risk of a pneumonia or lung collapse is so much lower. I haven’t seen patients getting successfully weaned off the ventilator. If they’re not being mobilized, it just won’t happen.

So that’s why the mobilization part is important. That’s one aspect but the other aspect is simply, picture yourself, someone is tying you to a bed for months or for weeks on ends, your brain goes foggy, it’s not good. Also imagine if you’re not moving, your joints are getting stiff. Then you have to almost like learn to walk again, learn to sit again, learn to use your arms again. So the sooner that can happen, the better it is.

Now, I’ve done a podcast a few months ago with one of my business associates, Kali Dayton. And I can only encourage you to check out the interview that I’ve done with Kali because she’s all about mobilizing patients in ICU. Kali is a critical care nurse practitioner as well. And she’s all about mobilizing patients early so that patients can be successfully weaned off the ventilator. There’s no need for patients going to LTAC (Long Term Acute Care), no need for patients to have a tracheostomy even. Have a look at the interview. I will post a link towards this video.

I hope that illustrates in more detail why mobilization is so important and even ICU tells you they can’t mobilize, they’re making excuses.

Now, there are exceptions to the rule. The exceptions are, if someone has a fracture, waiting for surgery, someone is hemodynamically unstable, but as soon as your loved one is stable, there should be nothing stopping them from being mobilized. If they’re not getting mobilized, it’s sheer laziness and complacency from the ICU. Got nothing to add there.

So I hope that helps and that is my quick tip for today.

Now, we have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com. And you can become a member. We answer all of your questions in the membership. You can get access to the membership by going to intensivecarehotline.com by clicking on the membership link or going 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. 

I also offer one on one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. And I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I talk to you and your families, of course. I educate you about what’s important so that you can make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power and influence.

Now imagine you and I can get on a phone call with the doctors or with the nurses. You will see what questions I ask and you will see the dynamics changing in your favor. I have worked in intensive care for over 20 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse manager for over five years. And I have been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all over the world since 2013 for over 10 years now. And you can have a look at our testimonial section to see what our clients say.

Now, I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams so that you don’t get walked all over so that you know what to say, you know what questions need to be asked so that you also know about your rights, including whether you should go into a family meeting in the first place. It’s not always advisable to go to a family meeting with intensive care teams. You need strategies when you have a loved one in intensive care and I can help you with those strategies.

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

Now, if you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel  for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families and comment below what you want to see next or what question questions and insights you have.

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.