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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREATHOME.COM.AU where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!
In last week’s blog I shared Sarah Walton’s and her little 2 year old boy Zackary’s story
“MY TWO YEAR OLD SON COULD DIE AT ANY MOMENT!”
You can check out last week’s BLOG and last week’s article here!
In this week’s BLOG I want to talk about
“THE 5 BIGGEST INEFFICIENCIES IN INTENSIVE CARE IN AUSTRALIA!”
After I have worked in Intensive Care as a Registered Nurse for more than 15 years in Germany, the United Kingdom and in Australia(since 2005) I have found many similarities and also many differences in Intensive Care in those countries!
The main difference that still strikes me is that long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies in the UK and in Australia are still kept in Intensive Care for weeks and months on end, without ever having the option to go home with a specialised Intensive Home care nursing service like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME.
It still makes me wonder that a first world country like Australia is lacking so far behind when it comes to extending Intensive Care services into a home care environment for long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies.
It still makes me wonder that the few long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies who are lucky enough to go home are left in the hands of non-skilled carers or are left in the hands of non- coping family members!
It still makes me wonder how any service provider who is not working with critical care trained nurses to look after long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies can even think about offering such services.
It also makes me wonder that in a first world country such as Australia some long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies in Intensive Care are being “made” NFR(not for resuscitation) because people can’t perceive a viable and suitable alternative such as Intensive Home Care!
Care for long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies in their own home is still such an under-resourced area in Australia and yet it ties right in with what I believe are
THE 5 BIGGEST INEFFICIENCIES IN AUSTRALIA IN INTENSIVE CARE IN AUSTRALIA!
Let’s look at those inefficiencies in detail
1) Long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies cost health services, departments of health, private health insurances and also the tax payer around $ 5,000 per bed day
2) Long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies block precious and expensive Intensive Care beds that could be used for more acute admissions if home care was offered to those Patients and their Families
3) Long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies are 9 times out of 10 depressed in Intensive Care with no quality of life and they are deprived of the opportunity to go home, even though successful models of Intensive Home Care have long been developed in other first world countries
4) The families of long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies are putting their lives on hold whilst their loved one is “stuck” in Intensive Care, with the result that they often take unpaid time of work, they are not producing an income and this costs tax payers money too!
5) The biggest inefficiency out of all is that Intensive Care Units are not facing any real competition in Australia. The only way to innovation and to better services is competition. When it comes to long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies, competition is creating a win-win situation for all stakeholders. I.e. empty bed, cost savings, improved quality of life for Patients and their Families and choice for Intensive Care Units, for Patients and for Families!
What are your thoughts? Do you think that Australian Intensive care units are efficient when it comes to long-term ventilated adults& children with Tracheostomies?
Leave your thoughts and comments on the blog!
You can also contact me on 041 094 2230 if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.
We are also currently hiring Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for a ventilated Melbourne Client, close to the CBD. For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers
Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.
This is Patrik Hutzel from www.intensivecareathome.com.au and I’ll see you again in another update next week.