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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: How Can You Learn Fast What You Don’t Know When Your Loved One is in ICU?

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, one thing that you hear me saying over and over and over again is that the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is 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.

Case in point today, so we are currently working with a client who first came to us and said, “Look, my dad’s been in ICU for 50 days, then he went to LTAC (Long Term Acute Care). He can’t come off the ventilator, that’s at least what they’re telling me. Now, they want to send him to a skilled nursing facility.”

So, here is what we found. We’ve got access to the medical records. The client also sent us some pictures of the dad and it turns out he is not ventilated. He’s got a tracheostomy, but he’s not ventilated. He’s on a T-piece.

Now, a T-piece looks similar to a ventilation circuit but a T-piece for a tracheostomy client is just attached usually to a humidifier to either deliver humidified air or humidified oxygen. That’s not a ventilator. It’s just to moisten the air that a patient is breathing in and out, that’s all it is.

So, intensive care and anything related to it whether it’s ventilation, tracheostomy, medications given, nursing care, it is such a highly specialized field that you can’t really hold it against anyone that they don’t know what they don’t know. But there’s a major, major difference if someone is ventilated or not because if they’re not ventilated, they’re not on life support. They have a lifesaving device which is the tracheostomy. It’s not considered life support as such.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

Now, because we get so many questions for families of critically ill patients and intensive care, that’s one of the reasons why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com. You can get access to the membership, and you can sign up to become a member when you go to intensivecarehotline.com and you click on the membership link, or 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 videos and 21 e-books that are specifically written and recorded for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, making sure they can make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

I have worked in critical care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse unit manager for over 5 years. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all around the world since 2013.

I can say without the slightest hint of exaggeration that we have saved lives with our consulting and advocacy, and you can verify that at our testimonial section or at our podcast and video section where we have some client interviews.

Therefore, I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I talk to doctors and nurses directly, making sure that you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence. I also make sure that the doctors know you have someone on your team who understands intensive care inside out just as much as they do, and it’ll change the dynamics in your favor. Once again, have a look at our testimonial section and our podcast section.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams, so once again, that your loved one gets best care and treatment, but also to make sure you have a strategy when you go into family meetings with intensive care teams. 99.9% of families in intensive care have no strategy whatsoever, and that’s why they’re fighting an uphill battle.

Also, we 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 suspecting medical negligence.

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

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families of critically ill patients 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.

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.

Related Articles:

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Weaning VA-ECMO for Heart Failure, Do you Need Milrinone or Dobutamine? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Can a Tracheostomy be Done While your Loved One is on ECMO? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: What Questions to Ask When Your Loved One is in Heart Failure in ICU! Quick Tip for Families in ICU: What are Signs that My Mom can be Weaned Off the Ventilator in ICU? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Why is My Mom Not Waking Up After Two Weeks in an Induced Coma and Paralyzing Agents After Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)?