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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomies 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 the last blog I shared
What do ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies need for in- home care?
You can check out last week’s blog here!
In this week’s blog I want to discuss
Is it ethical to leave long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care?
Ethics and morals are important issues when it comes to health care. This is even more important in a highly emotionally charged and volatile environment like Intensive Care!
And everybody who has worked in Intensive Care for a while, anybody who has been a Patient in Intensive Care or who ever had a loved one in Intensive Care will understand that a discussion around ethical and moral issues and dilemmas in Intensive Care is inevitable.
Ethical and moral issues when it comes to long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care are often high on the agenda and they can’t be ignored and neither should they.
For example if it takes almost 12 months for some long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care to leave such a depressing, sterile, inhibiting and limiting environment like Intensive Care, there is something seriously wrong in a first world country like Australia.
After a while in Intensive Care, even ventilator dependent and tracheostomised Patients are medically stable and off inotropes so that they are in a position to continue their care and their treatment at home with specialised and accredited services like our INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME nursing service.
It is neither ethical nor is it cost effective to look after long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care once they are medically stable, off inotropes and the main reason for their stay in Intensive Care is their ventilator dependency.
Think about it, if a long-term ventilated adult or child with tracheostomy in Intensive Care and their family continue to stay in this limiting, inhibiting, sterile and depressing environment, there is a high chance that their condition deteriorates due the depression and lack of quality of life in Intensive Care, as well as the huge infection risk in ICU. Numerous often lethal bugs are floating around in this highly contaminated environment. That’s not the case at home, it’s almost an infection free environment and there is virtually no risk of any nosocomial infections.
Is it ethical or effective to pay for $5,000 per bed day in ICU, instead of using cost effective and quality of life focused home care?
Imagine continuing care and treatment at home instead, it’ll massively improve the Patients and their families of life and on top of that it’s a massive cost saver!
One ICU bed costs $4,000- $5,000 per bed day and when those beds are occupied by long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies, they also block a critical care bed that could be used for other, more acutely unwell Patients in need of an Intensive Care bed.
Furthermore, similar services to INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME have already proven their concepts in Europe, mainly in Germany for 20 years now and it’s proven that Intensive Home Care for long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies is a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in Intensive Care!
And it’s the same here in Australia, everyday we are proving that our holistic model of care is working and everyday we actively keep our Clients at home whom otherwise would be in Intensive Care!
It’s a win-win situation! Everybody benefits! Our Clients and their families can be at home instead of Intensive Care, we send highly skilled Intensive Care nursing staff, ICU’s have an empty bed and the cost is way below $5,000 per bed day!
What are your thoughts? Do you think that it’s ethical to keep long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care?
Leave your comments on the blog!
For more information, you can contact me on 041 094 2230 or email [email protected]
We are also currently hiring enthusiastic and experienced Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for ventilated Clients in Melbourne.
We would also like to hear from you if you have a minimum of 2 years Paediatric ICU experience, as we have opportunities here as well!
For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers or contact Patrik on 041 094 2230 or simply hit reply to this email.
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.
Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!