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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 and otherwise medically complex Patients 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
You can check out last week’s episode by clicking on the link here.
In today’s blog I want to share another case study from one of our previous clients
INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME services for a 15 month old toddler, another “win-win” situation and success story
INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME was privileged to look after 15 month old Jacob, who was in NICU and then PICU for the first 12 months of his life.
Most of the time during his first 12 months of his life, he spent on life support, more specifically, on a ventilator with tracheostomy.
More than once, the family was told that Jacob wouldn’t survive, but thankfully Jacob turned out to be remarkably resilient and he has been beating the odds!
Jacob eventually got discharged home with the help of our service, where we then provided up to 24/7 care in the home.
Jacob had a tracheostomy, was oxygen dependent as well as having a PEG tube for feeding. Initially Jacob went home with a nasogastric (NG) feeding tube which became dislodged quite frequently due to reflux, chronic nausea and vomiting, as well as Jacob pulling it out quite frequently.
The vomiting eventually subsided after Jacob had a fundoplication and a PEG inserted.
We worked with Jacob and his family for four months until Jacob had the tracheostomy removed and got decannulated after four months of providing up to 24/7 Intensive Home Care nursing. Jacob had the tracheostomy removed during a surgical procedure and it was successful.
Without the involvement of a specialist service such as INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME, where we sent ICU/PICU/NICU nurses in the home up to 24/7, Jacob would have either stayed in PICU or could have potentially died at home due to complications (including but not limited to inadvertent decannulation of the tracheostomy) that can only be safely managed by trained and highly skilled and experienced ICU/PICU nurses!
Jacob was born prematurely and he had the following medical conditions
- Chronic lung disease in neonate
- Cerebral palsy
- Acquired subglottic stenosis in new born
- Congenital tracheomalacia
- Tracheostomy dependent
- Oxygen dependent
- Lower respiratory tract infection
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- GORD
- Frequent desaturations to <92%
Jacob initially on discharge to home wasn’t very well and he had numerous challenging clinical situations to go through before he was getting more stable.
This was partly due to ongoing vomiting and the risk of aspiration due to the vomiting.
Without having ICU/PICU nurses in the home Jacob would have lived in a sterile ICU/PICU environment due to his medical condition and his family wouldn’t have been able to go back home.
Due to our professional service and having the skills and expertise available up to 24/7 to keep a toddler with a tracheostomy and oxygen dependency out of ICU/PICU also enabled his parents to go back to work at least part-time.
By using a professional and fully accredited service like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME, the department of health was able to cut the cost of the ICU/PICU bed into less than 50%.
Furthermore, the “in-demand” ICU/PICU bed was freed up and was ready for use for other critically ill children.
To summarise this success story and highlight the “win-win” situation
- Jacob was able to go home after prolonged PICU/NICU stay with the help of a professional and third party accredited service who sends ICU/PICU/NICU nurses into the home
- An expensive and ‘in-demand’ $5,000 per bed day ICU bed was freed up for use of other critically ill children
- The cost of specialised Intensive Care services was reduced to less than 50% of the cost
- Jacob and his parents were finally able to leave hospital and have quality of life at home
- Jacob’s Mom was able to go back to work part time to support the family
- Jacob eventually had the tracheostomy removed (decannulation) but was able to spend the time at home before decannulation
Related:
- Specialist services that were provided included tracheostomy care, oxygen management, monitoring, PEG and Nasogastric tube management, suctioning, tracheostomy tube changes, respiratory management such as nebuliser management
- Medications can and are administered by specialist nurses in the home with the provision of a medically prescribed drug chart
- Nebulisers, analgesics and other PRN or ‘as required’ medications can therefore also be administered without parental intervention (as is the case with carers)
- chest physiotherapy and specialist nurses effectively deal with emergency situations in a calm manner
- Our team of ICU/PICU nurses working with Jacob have a total of over 100 years ICU/PICU experience, therefore making the environment stable for Jacob and his family
It’s another success story and it’s another sign that medically complex Patients with ventilation, tracheostomy, oxygen dependency, PEG etc… can leave hospital and ICU/PICU safely when looked after by a professional INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME nursing service.
You can also read other case studies here
https://intensivecareathome.com/case-studies/
Please contact us on 041 094 2230 so we can help you to get funding for nursing care!
We also provide specialist support coordination for medically complex Patients funded through the NDIS.
If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care including palliative care or Long-term acute care (also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator, if you want to know how to get funding for our service or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.
Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230
USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090
UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018
Also, check out our careers section here
www.intensivecareathome.com/careers
We are currently hiring ICU/PICU nurses for clients in the Melbourne metropolitan area and in South Gippsland/Victoria.
We are an NDIS, TAC (Victoria) and DVA (Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.
We have also been part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program for innovative health care companies last year!
https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator
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!