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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, reducing the cost of an ICU bed by 50%, whilst providing Quality Care!

In last week’s blog I talked about

CAN A PERSON BE WEANED OFF A VENTILATOR AND TRACHEOSTOMY AT HOME?

You can check out last week’s episode by clicking on the link here.

In this week’s blog I want to answer another question that we get quite frequently from our readers and clients

Can TPN (total parenteral nutrition) be given at home?

A question we get quite frequently by our readers and also by our clients is if intravenous nutrition, also known as TPN (total parenteral nutrition) can be given at home?

The short answer is yes.

Let me elaborate.

TPN or Total Parenteral Nutrition is intravenous nutrition that can only be given via a central venous catheter (CVC) or via a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line.

Fairly often Patients in Intensive Care have to be nil by mouth (NBM) for situations like intubation, abdominal surgery, ileus (bowel obstruction), Nasogastric or PEG feed intolerance to name a few.

Whenever nasogastric feeds or PEG feeds can’t be given to meet nutritional demands, TPN or total parenteral nutrition needs to be given via a central venous catheter (CVC) or a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line in order to meet nutritional demands.

There can sometimes be a 24 hour time window between stopping PEG or Nasogastric feeds and commencing TPN depending on the availability of TPN. Sometimes Pharmacy needs to prepare TPN first.

Once TPN has been commenced, regular blood tests including the check for blood Glucose and Electrolytes needs to be monitored.

A new TPN intravenous giving set needs to be used every 24 hours to maintain infection control standards. A new TPN giving set needs to be attached

References:

INTENSIVE CARE HOTLINE: TPN (total parenteral nutrition)

https://intensivecarehotline.com/your-loved-ones-treatment/total-parenteral-nutrition-tpn/

So what about giving TPN at home?

Given that a service like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME is providing care to ventilated, tracheostomised and otherwise medically complex Patients with 24/7 Intensive Care and paediatric intensive care nurses as a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in intensive care, the provision of home TPN is also part of our skill set.

We are currently providing home TPN to paediatric clients and have also provided services to adult TPN clients at home.

The delivery of home TPN requires the skill and expertise of an Intensive Care nurse, due to the skills that are required when it comes to the central venous catheter (CVC) or PICC line management.

The risk that needs to be managed is the patency of the central venous catheter (CVC) or PICC line.

The CVC or PICC line also need to be re-dressed sterile on a regular basis in order to avoid line infection that could develop into sepsis.

Once the line is blocked it requires a re-insertion of the CVC or PICC line which is a procedure that needs to be performed in hospital, sometimes under ultrasound or even under x-ray guidance.

Here is more information and further reading

TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) administration and PICC Line/ Central line Care in the community 

Kind Regards

Patrik

 

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.

Also, have a look at our range of full service provisions here

https://intensivecareathome.com/services

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

https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/

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!