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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can make informed decisions, 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 the last blog I talked about
Critical illness in Intensive Care is it time for a new paradigm?
You can check out last week’s blog by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s blog I want to talk about
The 10 signs to look for if your critically ill loved one is in the right Intensive Care Unit!(Part 1)
Before I get into today’s topic I want to share a quote with you that I wrote on today’s topic and the quote says
Critical illness and Intensive Care unfortunately doesn’t come with a manual for either the Patients or their families!
There is no “cheat sheet” handed out to you by the Intensive Care team in how you should conduct yourself or what you can expect when your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!
However the fact of the matter is that either implicitly or explicitly the Intensive Care team expects you to respond to their “perceived power” and their “perceived authority”. They again, implicitly or explicitly communicate to you and your family that they are “running the show” and that they are the ones “driving the bus” so to speak!
It’s therefore that 99% of the families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care respond to the intimidation from the Intensive Care team and therefore don’t make informed decisions, don’t get peace of mind, don’t have control, don’t have power and don’t have influence!
They stay uninformed for a number of reasons and most of all because they put “blind faith” in the Intensive Care team’s ability to do the right things and always act “in the best interest” for your critically ill loved one!
My mission here at INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM is to give you the tools, the strategies and the mindset so that you can make informed decisions, get peace of mind, get power, get control and get influence so that you, your family and your critically ill loved one get the outcomes, the care, the treatment and the best shot at life that you deserve!
So let’s get into today’s topic!
As I said in the quote in the beginning, critical illness and Intensive Care doesn’t come with a manual or a “cheat sheet”. If anything, it’s as close as you can get to walk into a minefield.
For you, your family and your critically ill loved one you are most likely as close as you can get to disaster striking your family and if you don’t have the tools in your toolbox so to speak, it’s very easy to get lost!
Your goal when your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care should always be to stay in control of your and your critically ill loved one’s destiny and therefore you need to be in a position to make informed decisions, get peace of mind, get power, get control and get influence at all times!
Especially when your critically ill loved one is either
those are the difficult, challenging and often heartbreaking situations where you and your family can’t wait for the Intensive Care team to “run the show”, “drive the bus” or let their “perceived power” and their “perceived authority” dictate the fate and destiny of your critically ill loved one!
As you know, I can give you the manual and the “cheat sheet” when you are working with me one on one in my phone/Skype counselling/ consulting sessions or in my email counselling/ consulting sessions, however to give you and all families in Intensive Care a head start today I want to give you
The 10 signs to look for if your critically ill loved one is in the right Intensive Care Unit!
Most of you know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, however just in case you are new to this blog, here is what makes me qualified to write about those 10 signs.
After more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing in three different countries, where I literally worked with thousands of critically ill Patients and their families, as well as when working with Clients one on one in my counselling and consulting over the phone/Skype or via email, I have seen my fare share of the struggles, challenges and fears that families in Intensive Care are going through.
I have seen all the mistakes they are making and I know how they struggle to get what they want!
I have also worked as a Nurse Unit Manager in Intensive Care for more than 5 years where I have seen more than enough to know and understand what’s going on “behind the scenes” in Intensive Care and I have intimate knowledge how an Intensive Care Unit operates!
So without further ado, let’s dive into
The 10 signs to look for if your critically ill loved one is in the right Intensive Care Unit!
- The Intensive Care team is openly communicating with you care, treatment, diagnosis and prognosis
This should go without saying, however my experience is that not many Intensive Care Units are open and transparent, nor are they great communicators. Intensive Care teams have a tendency to keep their cards close to their chest, because there is so much at stake for Intensive Care Units in this multi-Billion $$$ Dollar per year Industry!
- The Intensive Care team is taking time to speak with you
It’s another healthy sign that when the Intensive Care team speaks with you that they take their time. Yes, they are busy people, however they are also professionals and they have a “duty of care” for you and your family.
Having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care is a “once in a lifetime” situations and most Intensive Care teams have forgotten how families in Intensive Care feel and therefore they don’t treat you as if you are in a “once in a lifetime” situation, they treat the critical illness of your loved one as “business as usual”!
If the Intensive Care team is taking time to genuinely wanting to talk to you, you know that you are in the right place. This leads me to my next point
- The Intensive Care team doesn’t hide behind their medical and academic jargon and they explain things to you in a language that you can understand!
So if you and your family are in the lucky position that the Intensive Care team is openly communicating with you and your family and if they are also taking enough time wanting to talk to you, the next sign to look for is whether they do so in a language that you can understand!
By that I mean, do they hide behind their medical and academic jargon or do they explain things to you in a language and in words that you can understand?
I could bore you all day long explaining things about Intensive Care in the way I learned them which was all in medical terms! That’s not going to help you and your family!
You need people around you who want to speak your language and who can break things down in terms that make sense to you!
Anything else is a sign that the Intensive Care team thinks it’s about them and not about you and your family!
- The Intensive Care team has a genuine interest in getting to know you, your family and your critically ill loved one!
This is a big challenge for most families in Intensive Care, especially when they are in a big ICU with many beds, many Patients and many staff! But it also happens in smaller Intensive Care Units!
In any case, it’s not a healthy sign if the Intensive Care team treats your loved one as “the Patient in bed 17 with the Pneumonia”. If they do that, there is a very good chance that they don’t know who you and your family are! There is also a very good chance that they don’t want to know who you and your critically ill loved one are!
Therefore, they are only interested in your loved one’s diagnosis and not the real person behind it!
Holistic care starts with looking at the whole person, their social and life circumstances, their background, their outlook on life, their family and so much more!
Most Intensive Care Units don’t see the whole human and their family behind it! They just look at the person’s x-ray, their blood results etc… That’s important too, however people and their families are whole constructs they therefore need to be looked at and treated in a holistic way!
Related article/ video
- The Intensive Care Unit has no limitations and restrictions around visiting hours and visiting times!
Again, this comes down to openness and transparency! If the Intensive Care Unit has visiting hours and visiting times from 10-12 and 6-8 or any other variation of those times, your alarm bells need to go off and you need to run!
This is so old fashioned and yet widespread! From my perspective there is nothing more humiliating than not getting to your loved one when you want to and when your time permits!
We are living in the 21st century and restricted visiting times are just plain wrong, period!
It sets the tone from the start and Intensive Care Units who still live in this paradigm of “we tell you when you can visit your loved one because we are busy people and we know what’s best anyway…” should be held responsible for their restrictive and outdated management of Intensive Care Units! It’s just wrong, wrong, wrong!
Related article/ video:
Also check out Part 2 of (click on the link below)
where I give you the next 5 signs that you need to look out for if your loved one is in the right Intensive Care Unit!
How can you become the best advocate for your critically ill loved one, make informed decisions, get PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence quickly, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care?
You get to that all important feeling of making informed decisions, get 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 make informed decisions, 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 mind blowing 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 I answer your questions or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
Or you can call us! Find phone numbers on our contact tab.
Also check out our Ebook section where you get more Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings and where you can also get 1:1 counselling with me via Skype or over the phone and via email by clicking on the email and phone counselling tabs on the top of the website!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
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