In last month’s blog you would have seen more examples and case
studies, how home Intensive Care Nursing for long term mechanically ventilated
Adults& Children with Tracheostomy and their Families can dramatically improve
the Quality of Life for this particular Customer group. I hope you enjoyed those
stories and case studies.
In this month’s blog I want to further highlight how breaking out of the Intensive Care environment can create a virtuous cycle. Long-term ventilation with Tracheostomy in ICU is usually a vicious cycle, with ventilator dependency, depression and hospital acquired infection at its core.
We can break this vicious cycle and create a virtuous cycle. Home Intensive
Care Nursing is an evolving and dynamic alternative for long-term mechanically
ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy and their Families and it has
become a massive success in other countries, in Europe in particular and I was
very fortunate to gain insight and ‘hands-on’ experience in the Industry in
Germany for a number of years.
In order to go the extra mile and create something of value for long-term
mechanically ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy and their Families,
as well as for Hospitals and Intensive Care Units, INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME is
extending services outside of the traditional Intensive Care approach, by looking
at ways of how innovative and effective alternatives can be created in the
context of
1) Creating a virtuous cycle by dramatically improving Quality of Life
outside of an Intensive Care environment- just by taking a long-term
ventilated Adult or a Child with Tracheostomy outside of the Intensive
Care environment back home, gives them and their Family such a boost,
with the natural consequence of feeling so much better
2) Establishing Quality of Life that is focused around a holistic approach
towards the ventilated Adult or Child in their own home, outside of
Intensive Care
3) Establishing Quality of Life that is focused not only on the Quality of Life
of the ventilated Adult or Child, but is also focused on the Quality of Life
of the Family- We all know how much time Families spend in Intensive
Care to be with their loved ones and essentially putting their life on hold,
whilst feeling very stressed and outside of their comfort zone
4) Creating and freeing up expensive resources for Hospitals and Intensive
Care Units in particular that can be used for more acute and sick Patients
that have a much higher need for Critical Care, in comparison to Adults
or Children who are long-term ventilated with Tracheostomy and have
little or no Quality of Life in Intensive Care
5) Creating win- win situations for long-term ventilated Adults& Children
with Tracheostomy, their Families, as well as for Intensive Care Units
and Hospitals, in view of Intensive Care beds being one of the most
expensive resources used in a Hospital
6) Creating a Quality solution outside of the traditional hospital approach,
where Intensive Care trained Nurses can contribute and use their
specialist skills to make a massive difference to the Quality of Life of
ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy and their Families, whilst
maintaining high Quality Nursing standards in a home care environment
that enable the Customer’s Quality of life to be the main focus
7) Breaking the vicious cycle of long- term ventilation in Intensive Care,
where long term-ventilation triggers depression and depression causes
long- term ventilation. On top of that- more often than not- long-term
ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy in Intensive Care catch a
hospital acquired Infection that usually prolongs their already expensive
stay in Intensive Care, adding on another loop to the vicious cycle and
putting additional costs on to their already long list of expenses
The list could probably go on and please leave your comments in our comments section below!
Have a great weekend!
Warm Regards
Patrik Hutzel