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This blog post was first published at our sister site INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM a support& resource website for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care! For more information visit WWW.INTENSIVECAEHOTLINE.COM
Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive Care!
In last week’s blog I gave you “The 3 ways on how to ALWAYS be one step ahead of the Intensive Care team, if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care”. You can read, watch or listen to last week’s update here.
In this week’s blog I want to give you “The 3 things you need to anticipate if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care(and it’s not what you think it is)”
If your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care, it’s generally very hard for Family members to know and anticipate what lies ahead and to know what’s around the corner. And how would you know anyway? Critical Illness and Intensive Care tends to be a volatile and challenging environment for Families and their critically ill Family members.
Furthermore, given the very nature of having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care, you and your Family feel vulnerable, challenged, stressed, outside of your comfort zone, overwhelmed and anxious. Most of all you generally have no idea of what to anticipate, as Intensive Care is just a very different ball game altogether and out of all places, it’s the last place you want to spend time in.
By now you will have a feel that the Intensive Care team is running the show…
By now, you would probably have a taste and a feel that the Intensive Care team is running the show and you would know by now that influence, control and power is nothing that will come easily to you, in an environment that is controlled by the Intensive Care team and where they are driving the bus, so to speak.
Because at this stage, you are so far outside of your comfort zone and overwhelmed by having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care that you most likely haven’t slept and eaten properly. You feel exhausted, tired and because you’re also having a Family to look after, you’re close to a nervous breakdown and generally speaking there just isn’t enough support and help for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care and they are generally left on their own.
In order for you to deal effectively with the challenges of having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care and also in order for you to have control, power and influence whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care I want to give you “The 3 things you need to anticipate if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care(and it’s not what you think it is)”.
Don’t be paralysed by the perceived power of the Intensive Care team
Listen, in more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing experience in three different countries, I have seen many Families of critically ill Patients being paralysed by fear and frustration. Families also tend to be paralysed by the perceived power of the Intensive Care team.
I have seen most Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care being unable to position themselves correctly against the perceived power of the Intensive Care team, in situations where clearly, their critically ill loved one would have needed them most. If Families are unable to position themselves correctly, it leads to an imbalance in the dynamics between the Intensive Care team and Families of critically ill Patients, generally with the Intensive Care team holding all the perceived power. That of course is only true if you are like 99% of Families of critically ill Patients, who don’t know what to do and they most often follow the Intensive Care team blindly.
Related Article: The 5 reasons why you should not trust the Intensive Care team blindly if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
In order for you to hold more power, more control and more influence and counteract the perceived power of the Intensive Care team I now want to dive into “The 3 things you need to anticipate if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care(and it’s not what you think it is)”.
1. Anticipate that the Intensive Care team is not interested in getting you involved in any decision making
There are a few things that you need to know and understand if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care. The things that matter most in a situation like this, is often not your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis. It’s certainly part of how the Intensive Care team positions themselves, however what’s more important and generally is hidden away from you at any cost are the moving parts within an Intensive Care Unit. The politics, the intrigue and the power dynamics that happen behind the scenes, have more often than not a huge and massive impact on the positioning of the Intensive Care team as it relates to your critically ill loved one’s prognosis and diagnosis.
If, for example, your loved one is a long-term Patient in Intensive Care and your critically ill loved one is making slow progress and the Intensive Care team anticipates a long recovery, you and your Family might get told that “a withdrawal of treatment” or a “withdrawal of life support” might be in the “best interest” of your critically ill loved one.
What you of course wouldn’t know, unless somebody told you, is that the Intensive Care team anticipates competing interests with the allocation of expensive and precious resources, whether it be beds, staff and/or equipment.
Many Patients competing for an Intensive Care bed could be one reason why the Intensive Care team is telling you about the “poor prognosis” of your critically ill loved one. Furthermore, if the Intensive Care team thinks that your critically ill loved one’s case would either be too expensive to treat or if they think that they aren’t going to make enough money by treating your critically ill loved one, you and your Family get told that “a withdrawal of treatment” is “in the best interest” of your critically ill loved one.
2. Anticipate that if you and if your Family are not positioned correctly and that if you haven’t done your own research, you will stand no chance against the Intensive Care team’s positioning
Your positioning, your mental strength, your willpower and the extent to which you have done your own research are your biggest guns in the battle so to speak.
A lot is possible in Intensive Care especially with modern medicine, however if your loved one is battling a critical illness that might take a long time to recover from or if your loved one is at the brink of dying in Intensive Care, you need to have pretty big guns in order to be positioned well and have the mental strength to not only challenge the Intensive Care team and their positioning, but to also get what you want and what is in the best interest of your critically ill loved one!
The Intensive Care team doesn’t always do what’s in the best interest of your critically ill loved one! They always do what’s in the best interest of driving their agenda forward!
Doing your own research here at INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM is one of the best things you can do, because here we give you the “behind the scenes insight” about Intensive Care that’s raw and real and we tell you the things that the Intensive Care team doesn’t want you to know. We take away the curtains and let you look into the politics, the intrigue and the dynamics that invariably lead to the Intensive Care team’s positioning and that may well have a big impact on your critically ill loved one’s destiny.
3. Most Intensive Care Units have Consultants and Physicians who do research about Intensive Care medicine. Anticipate that if your critically ill loved one is fighting for their life and/or is a long-term Patient in Intensive Care and is therefore perceived as a difficult and challenging case who’s taking up plenty of resources, your critically ill loved one’s treatment may well interfere and compete with the research interests of some Consultants and Physicians. Therefore, it might be in the best interest of the Intensive Care Unit, to allocate resources to other Patients who might fit the research thesis/ criteria of the Consultants and Physicians. The allocation of resources is therefore often based on research interests and not on clinical needs.
Your job is to be highly, highly vigilant about the things that the Intensive Care team is telling you and not telling you! Your job is to read between the lines. Your job is also to question, because if you don’t question, you will never have any power, control or influence!
Intensive Care is an Industry with many people having massive business interests. It’s therefore that Families of critically ill Patients often don’t see the bigger picture and the moving parts of an Intensive Care Unit remain hidden for them.
Again, with so many competing interests and with so much research in Intensive Care going on, you simply don’t know what you don’t know!
In more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing experience in three different countries I have seen it all and I have had more than plenty of insight into the dynamics, the intrigue and the politics to have learned and understood the games that the Intensive Care teams are playing to have it “their way”.
Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care tend to be so overwhelmed, stressed, frightened and intimidated by the whole experience that it’s easy for the Intensive Care team to drive their agenda forward! And 99% of Families of critically ill Patients don’t question, which is the biggest challenge and the single biggest reason why Families of critically ill Patients have no power, control and no influence!
How can you leverage your level of power, influence and control whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care and how can you be in control of the situation?
You’ll get to that all important feeling of power, control and influence when you download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report NOW by entering your email below! In Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report you’ll learn quickly how to get real power and real control and how you can influence decision making fast, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care! Our FREE reports help you with in-depth insight that you must know whilst your loved one is critically ill or is dying in Intensive Care! Sign up for your FREE membership and download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT now!
In your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT you’ll learn how to speak the “secret” Intensive Care language so that the doctors and the nurses know straight away that you are an insider and that you know and understand what’s really happening in Intensive Care!
In your FREE reports you’ll also discover
• how to ask the doctors and the nurses the right questions
• how to eliminate fear, frustration, stress, struggle and vulnerability even if your loved one is dying
• 5 “killer” tips& strategies helping you to get on the right path to control, power and influence in your situation
• you’ll get crucial ‘behind the scenes’ insight so that you know and understand what is really happening in Intensive Care
• how you need to manage doctors and nurses in Intensive Care(it’s not what you think)
Thank you for tuning into this week’s “blog” and I’ll see you again in another update next week!
Make sure you also check out our “your questions answered” section where I answer your questions or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
Sincerely, your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
For more information and to download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” Report visit INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM