Quick Tip for Families in ICU: How Long Can Someone Stay in an Induced Coma in Intensive Care?

How long can someone stay in an induced coma in intensive care?

My name is 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, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

In today’s video, I want to answer a question that I get all the time, “How long can someone stay in an induced coma in intensive care or in ICU?” Now, let’s break this down.

An induced coma, also known as a medically induced coma. Is when sedative and opiate drugs are given. To keep a patient unconscious. This is usually done so they can tolerate a ventilator, protect the brain, manage pain, control, agitation, etc. The drugs usually given are sedatives such as Propofol, Midazolam/Versed, and/or Precedex, also known as Dexmedetomidine, and opiates such as mainly Fentanyl and Morphine.

So, how long can someone stay in an induced coma? The truth is, there is no fixed time limit. It depends on the underlying condition, whether that’s trauma, cardiac arrest, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, brain injury, or something else. It also depends on the stability of vital signs, how well the patient tolerates sedation and opiates, and the risk of complications. Some patients might only need an induced coma for a few hours or days. Others may be kept in an induced coma for weeks or even months, if absolutely necessary.

But here’s the catch. The longer someone stays in an induced coma, the higher the risk of complications. That includes ventilator associated pneumonia, blood clots, pressure sores, muscle weakness, and delirium.

That’s why it’s critical for families in intensive care to ask about sedation and opiate levels, daily sedation and opiate breaks, ideally, and what’s the plan for weaning off sedation.

Also, what can complicate an induced coma is that if a patient needs paralysis. So, what that means is sometimes patients fight against the ventilator despite high doses of sedatives or opiates. Sometimes patients in an induced coma might have brain injuries that have high intracranial pressures, also known as brain pressures. And in those situations, sometimes patients need to be chemically paralyzed.

So, that means is they are given intravenous medication to paralyze them completely, so they can’t move, so they can’t fight against the ventilator, so that they don’t move and that the brain pressures do not increase because that could damage the brain irreversibly. So that will also then add on to how long a patient can actually stay in an induced coma.

Now, here’s where families get caught out. Often the intensive care teams won’t explain all of this to you properly.

You might feel like you’re being brushed off with vague answers or left completely in the dark, because often intensive care teams might even think that you don’t understand what they’re about to explain.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. You are a perfectly capable human, and you can listen to information and you can digest and understand it.

And that’s also why you need independent advocacy and consulting, because we here at intensivecarehotline.com help you to ask the right questions, challenge the ICU team when needed, and make sure your loved one gets best care and treatment possible always.

Another thing that ICU teams may, may want to make you believe is that the time spent in an induced coma is limited. And that is often from their perspective, because the worst-case scenario from an ICU team, for an ICU team is to have someone in ICU. For long periods of time without a finishline.

And that is actually the worst-case scenario for ICU teams because, that way, they have beds occupied for long periods of time, which they don’t want. ICU beds are in high demand, or it costs them too much money perceptually (as perceived by the ICU team), and they want to stay in control of the narrative, because if they tell you that your family member can stay in an induced coma for indefinite periods, they’re not in control of the narrative by telling you that. The time is limited. They stay in control of the narrative, your job here is to take control of the narrative in terms of what you want for your family member in intensive care.

And how do you do that? Well, we help you to take control of the narrative because we are intensive care experts, and we can help you manage intensive care teams so that they don’t manage you.

If your loved one is in an induced coma and you’re asking yourself, how long can this go on, or when will they wake up, don’t waste another minute worrying in silence.

Go to intensivecarehotline.com right now. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website. I offer one on one consulting, advocacy and representation. We help you make informed decisions, regain peace of mind, control, power, and influence. Making sure your loved one gets best scan treatment always, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse.

I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries, where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy because of our insights. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews because our advice is absolutely life changing.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know their rights, and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care.

That’s why we help you to improve your life instantly, making sure you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always. That’s why you can join a growing number of members and clients that we have helped over the years, saving their loved ones’ lives.

That’s why I do one on one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply cannot afford to get wrong. When I talk to families directly, I also talk to doctors and nurses directly, asking all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

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

We also have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, and you can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you click on the membership link, or if you go 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. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded. All of that will help you to improve your life instantly, make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

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, what questions and insights you have from this video.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on the show. You will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel or my intensivecarehotline.com email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com.

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.

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