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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have PEACE OF MIND, real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making fast, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive Care!
In last week’s PODCAST I’ve interviewed Lorette Gijsbers from “Family centred Intensive Care”! You can check out last week’s interview by clicking on the link here!
In this week’s blog I want to show you
“How to take control if your loved one has a severe brain injury and is critically ill in Intensive Care”
If your loved one has been admitted to Intensive Care with a severe brain injury, chances are that you don’t really know what it all means and what to do next.
In fact, if your loved one has been admitted to Intensive Care with a severe head injury and has been placed in an induced coma on a ventilator, with lots of tubes coming out of your loved one’s body, you are probably devastated and you feel like so many other Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, helpless, vulnerable and out of your comfort zone.
To make matters worse, Intensive Care Units are pretty quick in painting a doom and gloom picture for severe head injuries and they are very quick in breaking bad news for you and for your Family and their first response is often that your loved one has a very poor prognosis.
Brain injuries are very different from any other admission diagnosis to Intensive Care and the major difference is that the brain is the only organ that can’t be controlled.
All other major organs such as the heart, the lungs, the liver and the kidneys can be controlled at least temporarily. That is not the case with the brain and because the brain has a life on its own it’s hard to control it.
There are of course things that can be done to minimize the impact of the severe brain injury, such as placing your critically ill loved one in an induced coma, however if the brain injury is severe, the induced coma can only minimize but not necessarily control high pressures in the brain that might cause damage to the brain.
As an overall strategy, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about the “doom and gloom” picture that the Intensive Care team is painting and it is more important for you to ask the right questions in order to take control of the situation. Stay positive as a starting point, no matter what!
The right questions you need to ask are
1) How long would it take for your loved one to recover if the Intensive Care team is doing their best?
2) Are the Intensive Care team telling you the truth or are they only painting a bleak picture because they don’t want to deal with your loved one for many weeks in Intensive Care? Keep in mind, severe head injuries have a much longer recovery time and therefore length of stay in Intensive Care
3) Critically ill Patients in Intensive Care with severe brain injuries often recover in their own time and therefore their length of stay in Intensive Care is prolonged, difficult and unpredictable. Does that mean that the Intensive Care team doesn’t have the patience, the optimism, the positive culture or the budget to deal with your critically ill loved one adequately? (I have written a blog post about how culture in ICU impacts on Patient care)
Related article:
4) Some Intensive Care Units that I have worked in, had a very positive outlook and very positive culture around their Patient care and therefore also had improved Patient outcomes. Is the unit that you are dealing with focused on the positives or on the negatives? Are the people that you are dealing with trying to sell you good or bad news?
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5) Are there other admissions waiting to come to the Intensive Care Unit? Is there competition for beds and staff? Would that be part of how the Intensive Care Unit is trying to position their prognosis?
6) It’s crucial that you question the moving parts in the background of an Intensive Care Unit, because without you knowing what’s happening behind the scenes and without you asking the right questions, you can’t be in control of the situation
How can you quickly get PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence while your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care?
You get to that all important feeling of PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE when you download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report NOW by entering your email below!
In Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report you’ll learn quickly how to get PEACE OF MIND, real power and real control and how you can influence decision making fast, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!
Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” Report gives you in-depth insight that you must know whilst your loved one is critically ill or is even dying in Intensive Care! Sign up and download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT now by entering your email below!
In your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT you’ll learn how to speak the “secret” Intensive Care language so that the doctors and the nurses know straight away that you are an insider and that you know and understand what’s really happening in Intensive Care!
In your FREE report you’ll also discover
- How to ask the doctors and the nurses the right questions
- Discover the many competing interests in Intensive Care and how your critically ill loved one’s treatment may depend on those competing interests
- How to eliminate fear, frustration, stress, struggle and vulnerability even if your loved one is dying
- 5 “killer” tips& strategies helping you to get on the right path to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence in your situation
- You’ll get real world examples that you can easily adapt to your and your critically ill loved one’s situation
- How to stop being intimidated by the Intensive Care team and how you will be seen as equals
- You’ll get crucial ‘behind the scenes’ insight so that you know and understand what is really happening in Intensive Care
- How you need to manage doctors and nurses in Intensive Care(it’s not what you think)
Thank you for tuning into this week’s “BLOG” and I’ll see you again in another update next week!
Make sure you also check out our “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED” section where we answer your questions or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
Also check out our Products section where you get more Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings and where you can also get 1:1 consulting with me!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
Your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
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- 5 Ways to have control, power and influence while your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care