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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, where we provide tailor-made solutions for long-term ventilated adults and children with tracheostomy. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst providing quality services for long-term ventilated patients with tracheostomy, but also with BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) and otherwise medically complex patients including Home TPN.
So, in today’s blog post, I want to talk about avoidable readmissions in the space when it comes to tracheostomy care at home. For example, cerebral palsy at home with deep suctioning requirements. So, let me talk about this today because we know of some clients out there in the community that do not have recommended 24-hour specialist nursing care with intensive care nurses when it comes to tracheostomy and they’re not even ventilated, but they’re bouncing back into ICU all the time because the airway can’t be managed safely. They’re ending up with recurring chest infections because probably sterile technique is not being used because of family members or support workers simply not knowing what to do when it comes to managing a tracheostomy.
So, those patients spend weeks on end in ICU whilst they could be at home with 24-hour intensive care nursing, which is much more cost effective than the intensive care bed. But it’s also better quality of life for patients and for families, of course. Much better quality of life.
And it’s also highly recommended when you look on our website at the evidence-based mechanical home ventilation guidelines, it’s clearly documented that a patient can only be safely at home with ventilation or tracheostomy or both with intensive care nurses or critical care nurses with a minimum of two years critical care nursing experience and then clients really don’t have any hospital readmissions and we can safely verify that here in Intensive Care at Home because otherwise we wouldn’t be in business quite frankly.
So, you got to look at the evidence, not what, sometimes even hospitals are telling you that there is no help. Well, there is help, you just got to look for it and there’s also funding with the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) in particular.
So, assuming you’re watching this and you’re in Australia, the NDIS is funding intensive care nurses at home, especially when it comes to tracheostomy. But also when it comes to things like such as cerebral palsy, let me quickly talk about cerebral palsy.
There’s a lot of kids out there with cerebral palsy, they need deep suctioning they need frequent airway management. They need, chest physiotherapy all the time to keep their chest clear. And again, we know of some cases that bounce back into ICU all the time because they’re not having the professional help and expertise at home that they need in order to stay home predictably and safely. I mean, that’s what it comes down to here at Intensive Care at Home. We are keeping our clients at home predictably and safely.
That’s what it really comes down to, if you’re having support workers at home or even general registered nurses who are not even trained on deep suctioning or on tracheostomy, that’s when hospital readmissions happen. Especially with cerebral palsy, for example, if you’re not deep suctioning when needed, patients end up with a chest infection or pneumonia and then they end up on ventilators in ICU. They may never come off the ventilator or potentially even pass away.
So really, you need the right level of care at home. Again, if you look at the evidence that’s documented at intensivecarehome.com. We’re not making it up, it’s research and evidence-based and our clients are at home predictably because for a lot of clients that don’t have the 24-hour intensive care nurses at home for those conditions, it’s hit and miss. They go back into ICU, they go back to hospital all the time and then they spend weeks and months on end in hospitals or in ICU, which is much more expensive than being at home with nursing care.
And if you are an NDIS support coordinator watching this or if you are a participant or a family member watching this and you are needing us an NDIS support coordinator who can help you with NDIS funding for nursing care, please contact us. We can help you with NDIS support coordination at Intensive Care at Home as well.
And if you are an NDIS support coordinator, and you’re wondering, well, how is this even possible that intensive care nurses are funded through the NDIS? Please contact us as well. We wouldn’t be in business if that wasn’t the case and we can help you how to advocate. If you think you don’t know how to advocate with the NDIS if a client needs this type of care.
And if you are watching this and you are potentially an employee at the NDIS, and you know that NDIS participants are going back to hospitals all the time, please contact us as well. Again, we can help you minimizing hospital readmissions for NDIS participants with a condition such as tracheostomy, mechanical ventilation, BiPAP, CPAP, seizure management, cerebral palsy, Home TPN, IV fluids. We’re now also doing potassium infusions at home, central line management, PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line management. We’re doing all of that now with Intensive Care at Home.
So now as I said, if you have a loved one in intensive care and you need help, especially with long-term ventilation, tracheostomy, please contact us. We can help you take your loved one home.
We are currently operating all around Australia and all major capital cities as well as regional and rural areas. We are NDIS-funded, TAC (Transport Accident Commission)-funded, DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs) funded, ICare in New South Wales as well as in NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland). So please contact us.
And if you’re a hospital wanting to take up our service, please contact us as well, of course.
Now, if you have a loved one at home and you don’t have enough support because your loved one is going back to hospital all the time, please contact us as well. I do believe we can put a stop to that pretty quickly because we can replicate an intensive care bed in the community.
Now, if you are a critical care nurse looking for work in Australia, please contact us as well. We have jobs predominantly in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane as well as Country Victoria, so please contact us as well.
And we are currently also looking forward to expand our medical team. We are currently looking for an intensive care consultant. If you’re interested working with us, please contact us as well.
And if you are in the U.S. and you’re watching this, please contact us as well. We are starting out in the U.S. as well. Please contact us on our U.S. number on the top of our website or for all email inquiries internationally. Please send them to [email protected].
Also, again, if you are in Australia, we are also offering NDIS nursing assessments but also medical record reviews as well. So please contact us for that. So, we are an accredited nursing service for Intensive Care at Home. We have the intellectual property; we have the staff. As a matter of fact, we employ hundreds of years of intensive care and pediatric intensive care nursing experience in the community. I do believe that this is unmatched by any other service provider. Therefore, it enables us to look after the highest acuity clients in the community. So, there we go.
Now, so thank you so much for watching today’s video.
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Thank you so much for watching.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, and I’ll talk to you in a few days.
Take care.