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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from 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 blog I talked about “Long-term ventilation with Tracheostomy and Intensive Care, the emotional price Patients and Families PAY!”
You can check out last week’s update by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s blog I want to talk about
“How LONG can a person stay in Intensive Care on a ventilator in Australia?”
I am always amazed to find how long some ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy can stay in Intensive Care.
No upper limits for stay in Intensive Care
There seems to be no upper limit for the length of stay and I am sure we’ve all seen our fair share of long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy in Intensive Care who have been in ICU for far too long only to find that those Patients and their Families end up depressed, with no Quality of life and sometimes they end up catching a hospital acquired infection.
Some long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy also bounce back and forth from wards to Intensive Care, again leaving those Patients and their Families extremely vulnerable!
If you ask people within Intensive Care why long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy stay in Intensive Care for sometimes up to 12 months in Intensive Care you hear people saying things along the lines of
- The Patient will leave Intensive Care soon
- The Patient needs to be weaned off the ventilator first
- Nobody can look after the Patient but ICU
The list could go on and is not exhaustive…
Going home is a viable option and provides a win-win situation
If people then furthermore bring to light that going home is a viable option for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy, people once again make excuses along the lines of
- It’s not safe for those Patients to go home
- That wouldn’t work
- We need approval from the Department of Health
- Ventilated Patients with Tracheostomy can only be looked after in Intensive Care
Keeping long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy in Intensive Care wastes opportunity and hundreds of thousands of Dollars $$$
Nobody even mentions the huge cost that easily goes into the hundreds of thousands of Dollars $$$, the massive dilemma for Patients and their Families to be in such a situation and nobody seems to be looking at the bed blocks that happen right across the board in Intensive Care because of long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy blocking beds that could be used for other more acutely unwell Patients in need of a critical care bed.
It’s a massive waste of resources and a massive waste of tax payer’s money to keep long-term ventilated Adults& Children in Intensive Care!
It’s also a massive waste of opportunity for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy and their Families!
It’s therefore not acceptable that some Intensive Care Units are not giving long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy a real choice and a genuine opportunity to go home.
What’s the alternative?
INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME provides tailor made services and tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy, their Families, Hospitals and Intensive Care Units alike.
Our tailor made solutions and tailor made services are focusing on
- Quality of life and/or Quality of end of life for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy in their own home, as opposed to a long-term stay in Intensive Care
- Giving control back to our Clients and their Families, whilst ensuring safe and best practice
- Copying a holistic care model that provides a win-win situation for all stakeholders and that has been proven and successful for more than 15 years in Germany
What are your thoughts? How long do you think long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy can stay in Intensive Care?
Leave your comments here 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 the recent “Hospital in the Home” tender.
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 INTENSIVECAREATHOME.COM.AU and I’ll see you again in another update next week.