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My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, where we instantly improve the lives for families of critically ill patients in intensive care to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in intensive care.

So today’s question is, “Why does your critically ill loved one in intensive care need to be mobilized as early as possible?” Well, the short answer is early mobilization saves lives, shortens ICU stays, improves long term outcomes, and often also shortens the time of mechanical ventilation that’s needed.

So, when your loved one is lying in bed for days or even weeks, sometimes even months on end, their body breaks down quickly. Prolonged bed rest leads to muscle wasting, weakness, deconditioning, blood clots, chest infections, pressure sores, overall decline, and can lead to depression, ICU psychosis, and ICU delirium.

Now, mobilization doesn’t mean running a marathon in ICU, mobilization can mean sitting up on the edge of the bed, standing with help, or walking a few steps with support or even marching on the spot. Even small movements can improve circulation, strengthen breathing muscles, help your loved one come off the ventilator sooner, reduce delirium, and speed up overall recovery. But there are contraindications to early mobilization, times when it’s not safe.

For example, if your loved one has unstable blood pressure or unstable heart rhythms, is on inotropes, vasopressors, or vasodilators or any blood pressure medication, that’s significant. Or if they have an irregular heart rhythm and they’re on medications such as amiodarone, Digoxin, etc, or if they are on high doses of vasopressors or inotropes, if they’re in severe hypoxemia, very low oxygen despite high oxygen support, if they have uncontrolled intracranial pressures or if there are fresh surgical wounds, fractures, or spinal instability. In other words, your loved one needs to be hemodynamically stable before early mobilization can happen safely.

The sad reality is many ICUs delay mobilization because of staff shortages, lack of protocols, or simply because it’s “easier” to keep patients sedated and in bed. But the evidence is crystal clear and always has been, the earlier mobilization starts, the better the outcome for your loved one.

So, what can you do as a family if you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care? Ask the ICU team, what’s your plan for early mobilization? When will physiotherapy or physical therapy start? Is my loved one stable enough to sit on the edge of the bed or even out of bed or start walking? This way you can advocate for your loved one and make sure they get the best chance of recovery.

Now, if you want to have peace of mind, make informed decisions, control, power, and influence while your loved one is in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com and call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected]. We offer one on one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care.

Lastly, just as a bonus tip. Just because your loved one is on a ventilator with a breathing tube or with a tracheostomy, or with BIPAP (Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure), CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) with a mask, doesn’t mean they can’t be mobilized, they can. A good ICU will mobilize patient and also they can have a shower, even if they are on a ventilator with a tracheostomy. A good ICU will put patients in a shower trolley and will help them to shower. It can all be done. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

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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