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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from www.intensivecareathome.com.au where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!
In last week’s PODCAST we featured Anthony Bartl, a young man who is ventilated at home with tracheostomy.
You can listen to Anthony’s interview here
In this week’s BLOG I want to talk about
“Is it still ‘business as usual’ for Intensive Care Units when it comes to long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies?”
if you have read last week’s blog you would have seen that long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies in Intensive Care were the second highest ranking DRG in terms of costing and expenses only after LVAD(Left ventricular assist device) insertion in Australia!
You can look up the data here on the National Hospital Cost Data Collection Australian public hospitals Cost Report 2010-2011, which has been published on the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA) website http://www.ihpa.gov.au/internet/ihpa/publishing.nsf/Content/nhcdc-cost-rep-2010-2011.htm~2-summary~2-4-admitted-acute-results~2-4-5-20-top-drgs
So where does that leave Intensive Care Units, long-term ventilated Patients, their Families and hospitals?
It’s an interesting question to explore and the truth of the matter is that if Intensive Care Units continue with “business as usual” when it comes to long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies, which often means to keep “sitting” on the Patients for weeks or even months on end costs are spiralling out of control.
And it’s not only a cost issue.
The lack of quality of life and/or quality of end of life for long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies and their families is an even bigger issue that can’t be weighed in financial terms.
One of the biggest frustrations for long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies is that they have no or limited choice in how or where they spend their time.
The same applies to families of long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies! They spend long periods of time in Hospitals and Intensive Care Units to be with their loved one, whilst putting their lives on hold!
Choice for long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies and their families in Intensive Care is often not an option, particularly when Intensive Care Units hold on to outdated paradigms and don’t look outside of the box.
Those outdated paradigms most of the time don’t reflect what long-term ventilated Patients and their families really need!
What they really need is somebody to take care of them in their own home, outside of an inhibiting and limiting Intensive Care environment!
What are your thoughts?
Do you think that Intensive Care Units continue with “business as usual” when it comes to long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies?
How do you think the quality of life and/or quality of end of life for long-term ventilated adults& children and their families can be improved?
Leave your comments on the blog!
Please also note that INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME has been selected as a preferred provider for Queensland Health Services as part of “Hospital in the Home” services.
We are also currently hiring enthusiastic and experienced Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for a ventilated Melbourne Client, close to the CBD. For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers or contact Patrik on 041 094 2230
You can also contact me on 041 094 2230 if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.
Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.
This is Patrik Hutzel from www.intensivecareathome.com.au and I’ll see you again in another update next week.