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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Mom’s Been on Ventilation, Lowest Settings for 21 Days and We’re Being Pressured to Do Tracheostomy.

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

Also, 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, comment below what you want to see next and what questions and insights you have.

So today, I have a question from Herman who says,

“Hi Patrik,

My mom has been in ICU on a ventilator at the lowest settings for 21 days now and we are being pressured to put in a tracheostomy with no other options.” Well, thank you Herman for writing in.

Now, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is always 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. Herman, I think that’s what you are dealing with here in any case.

So, if your mom has been on the ventilator now for 21 days, it’s a little bit like sink and swim now. She either can come off the ventilator, and be extubated, extubation is the removal of the breathing tube or she needs a tracheostomy.

Now, let me explain a little bit more. I have written an article with the title, “How to wean a critically ill patient off the ventilator in the breathing tube?” I highly encourage you to check out that very article and video because there it will explain to you in much detail what boxes need to be ticked for your mom to be extubated.

I argue she can’t be at the lowest settings because otherwise she would be able to be extubated. The only exception to that is if she’s not awake. So, let’s just say she’s not awake, but she is breathing on the lowest settings.

The reason she might need a tracheostomy then is simply that she couldn’t protect her airway because she’s not awake. Maybe she can’t cough, maybe she’s on the lower settings, but she can’t cough. If she can’t cough, or not bring up her secretions, she might need a tracheostomy simply for suctioning because she can’t cough. That doesn’t necessarily mean she needs ventilation. She might just need the tracheostomy to protect her airway without necessary ventilation.

The other thing that she may be struggling with again, if she’s not awake and let’s just say she had a neurological event such as a stroke or seizures, or brain injury, she might not be able to swallow either, and that’s when she also may need a tracheostomy and no ventilation. But still, the only way forward then is with tracheostomy.

If your mom is awake, is obeying commands, and is on the lowest ventilator settings, and arterial blood gases are good, and she can cough, there should be nothing in the way of her being extubated. So, maybe there is something you haven’t shared.

I also encourage anyone reaching out to us that they get access to the medical records, as quickly as possible so that we can help you very, very fast, making informed decisions, having peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment.

Now, I have worked in critical care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I looked after thousands of critically ill patients and their families in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com. We helped hundreds of families to save their loved one’s life or improve their situation. You can verify that on our testimonial section or on our podcast section.

Because we get so many questions for families in intensive care, that’s why we create the membership for families of critical patients in intensive care. You can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, click on the membership link there or go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the membership, you have access to me and my team and we answer all questions intensive care related.

In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded for you and for your families in intensive care once again, so that you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. I freak it all up with all my experience. Like I said, with over two decades intensive care nursing experience, it’s all in there and it’ll help you to manage the situation better.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone. Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp. I talk to you and your families directly, but I also talk to doctors and nurses directly on your behalf. Once again, when I talk to doctors and nurses in particular, I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking, but you must ask when you have a loved one in intensive care. Once again, making sure you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also as a team provide 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 in case you have unanswered questions, you need closure, or 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 in intensive care, click the like button, click the notification bell, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have, share the video with your friends and families.

Thank you so much for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on a YouTube show and you get a notification if you subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Take care.