Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: How Long Can A Breathing Tube or Endotracheal Tube Stay In?

“How long can a breathing tube or endotracheal tube stay in?”

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care, 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, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets the best care and treatment always, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in intensive care.

So, one of the questions I get all the time from families in intensive care is, “How long can a breathing tube or endotracheal tube stay in?”

Now, the breathing tube, also called an endotracheal tube or ET tube, is put through the mouth into the windpipe to connect your loved one to the ventilator or breathing machine. While it can be life-saving, it’s not designed to stay in forever. Typically, an endotracheal tube should stay in for no longer than 7 to 14 days. Beyond that, the risks increase significantly.

These risks include, and are not limited to, damage to the vocal cords or throat, injury to the windpipe, higher risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, and the need for ongoing sedation, which makes it harder for your loved one to wake up and recover, goes hand in hand often with deconditioning, muscle wastage, etc. So, after 7 to 14 days, most intensive care teams will recommend a tracheostomy if your loved one still needs mechanical ventilation.

But here’s the catch, many families in intensive care are either rushed into a tracheostomy decision without fully understanding the indications, or they can also be rushed into a “one-way extubation,” which is basically a euphemism for letting your loved one die.

Therefore, you need to ask, has a proper weaning trial been done? Is my loved one ready to come off the ventilator? What are the chances of recovery with or without a tracheostomy? What alternatives exist?

This is exactly where we come in at intensivecarehotline.com. We have families like yours all over the world navigate these difficult decisions, conversations, challenge the ICU team when needed, and make sure you’re not left in the dark, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

So, if your loved one is ventilated in intensive care with a breathing tube and you’re being pressured into making a decision about a tracheostomy or about a one-way extubation, do not go in blindly.

Go to intensivecarehotline.com right now. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected]. You can book a call with me there.

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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