Podcast: Play in new window | Download
What Can Be Done for My Mother in ICU After 30 Days of Ventilation and Tracheostomy?
Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, where we provide tailor-made solutions for long-term, ventilated adults and children with tracheostomies. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst providing quality services for long-term, ventilated adults and children and medically complex patients at home including Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition), Home IV potassium infusions, Home IV antibiotics. Also palliative care, Home BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) ventilation, Home Tracheostomy care when adults and children are not ventilated. We are sending critical care nurses into the home for all these situations and we bring quality care into the community.
So, in today’s blog, I want to answer a question from Steve who says, “What can be done after 30 days of ventilation in ICU with tracheostomy for my mother?” Well, that is a great question, Steve.
The short answer to it is, if your mom can’t come off the ventilator with a tracheostomy and is struggling and maybe because she’s in the wrong environment i.e. she’s depressed in ICU. She has no regular team around her that can take care of her properly. Maybe the ICU is getting jaded looking after her after 30 days because there’s no progress to be seen. That’s when you should be looking at an option like Intensive Care at Home because it is the best option when your mom is stuck in ICU on a ventilator with a tracheostomy and can’t come off the ventilator.
She’s struggling to wean, she’s sort of caught in a vicious cycle. And potentially there’s a psychological dependency on the ventilator as well. ICUs are not conducive environments for long-term recovery. When patients go home, recovery rates and the quality of life, and in some situations quality of end of life is so much better. You will see a noted difference.
I mean, all of our clients report a very good quality of life at home with Intensive Care at Home instead of being stuck in ICU for weeks and months on end. I mean, one of the things that needs to happen irregardless of where your mother is, Steve is, you need to look at getting her mobilized. You need to look at making sure she’s getting good nursing care, whether it’s regular showers, regular bed baths, regular pressure area care, and so forth, that’s when things move forward.
But in order to really move your mom forward and improve things dramatically is, you need to go home with your mom. Get Intensive Care at Home. We send critical care nurses into the home 24 hours a day because we send the intensive care into your home and get much better outcomes compared to ICU, because simply it’s a much more patient and family-friendly environment compared to an ICU where you have limited visiting hours. You often have no natural daylight. There’s no day and night rhythm. It’s noisy 24 hours a day. People talk, lights are on and off. There’s emergencies happening all the time. It is not a conducive environment for someone wanting to wean off the ventilator.
And keep in mind we are creating a win-win situation. ICUs need beds. So, we help you to go home, improves your mom’s quality of life. It improves your quality of life. Of course, improves your family’s quality of life. ICU has an empty bed which they desperately need and we cut the cost of the ICU bed by around 50%. That’s 50%. Therefore, it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
So now if you have a family member in intensive care and you need help in a similar situation, reach out to us at intensivecareathome.com just like Steve did. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected].
Now, currently, we are operating all around Australia in all major capital cities as well as regional and rural areas. And even if you are in the U.S. or in the U.K., please reach out to us. We can help you privately.
Furthermore, in Australia, we are an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) approved service provider. Most of our clients are funded for 24-hour intensive care nurses at home through the NDIS. But we’re also TAC (Transport Accident Commission) and WorkSafe approved in Victoria, ICare approved in New South Wales and NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland) approved in Queensland. Furthermore, we are a DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs) approved service provider all around Australia. And we’re also providing Level 2 and Level 3 NDIS support coordination.
Furthermore, if you are an intensive care nurse and you are working in intensive care and you’re looking for a career change and you have a minimum of two years’ intensive care or critical care nursing experience including ED, we want to hear from you. Ideally, you have completed the postgraduate critical care qualification. Ideally, you can commit to a minimum of two shifts a week, days and nights. And ideally, you want to make a difference to our clients and their families.
Please do not apply if you want agency work. We are not an agency. We are a service provider that has a tailor-made solution for our clients and that includes regular staff. So don’t come to us if you think you can come and go and you don’t want to bond with our families because that is really, really important for us and for our families of course.
Currently, we are having career opportunities in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane as well as in country Victoria such as Bendigo, Warragul, but also Albury Wodonga on the new South Wales Victorian border. We want to hear from you.
And if you are in a Level 2 or Level 3 NDIS Support Coordinator and you have NDIS participants who need nursing care, specialist, nursing care. Please reach out to us as well. We are also providing NDIS nursing assessments for your NDIS participants.
And if you are an intensive care specialist or an ICU consultant watching this and you’re looking for a career change. We are also currently expanding our medical team. And I know in your ICU, you have bed blocks and we can help you with eliminating your bed blocks including like I said, long-term ventilation, tracheostomy, BiPAP, CPAP, Palliative Care and end of life care at home as well. As well as Home TPN, Home IV potassium infusions and magnesium infusions, et cetera.
And if you are a hospital executive watching this, we want to hear from you as well because once again, we know you’ve got bed blocks in your hospital, in your ICU and in your ED. We can help you eliminating those bed blocks and you’re not even going to pay for it. Especially with the NDIS.
Currently, we are also providing an ED bypass service for the Western Sydney local area health district where we send CCRNS into the home or sometimes into aged care facilities to keep EDs empty. So we’re not only doing Intensive Care at Home, we’re also doing ED at home, keeping ICUs and EDs empty. We can do the same for your hospital.
If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates. Give the video a thumbs up, give it a like, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care and Intensive Care at Home. Share the video with your friends and families. Click the notification bell and comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have.
Thank you so much for watching.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, and I will talk to you in a few days.
Take care for now.