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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 and children with tracheostomies. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst it’s providing quality services, which includes 24-hour services for non-invasively ventilated adults and children with including BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) or CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). And we also include home TPN in our services.
In last week’s blog, I talked about,
You can check out last week’s blog by clicking on the link below this video:
In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients.
My Dad Can’t Come Off the Ventilator & Tracheostomy with Multiple Health Issues in ICU. Can He Go Home?
Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensive Care at Home, where we provide tailor-made solutions for long-term ventilated adults and children with tracheostomies. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst it’s providing quality services, which includes 24-hour services for non-invasively ventilated adults and children with including BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) or CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). And we also include home TPN in our services.
Now in today’s video blog, I want to answer another question from a reader/ client. And Todd writes,
Hi Patrik,
My father is a long-term ventilator-dependent patient and we are thinking that this could turn into a long-term situation because he’s got a tracheostomy and he can’t wean off the ventilator at all. Unfortunately, my dad has many other health issues that would prevent home care due to a feeding tube and a catheter and such. I’m just looking for any information or direction you may be able to provide.
Thank you in advance for any information or direction.
From Todd
Well, Todd, this is a great question actually. And I have been saying for many years now that, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is that, they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for, they don’t know what questions to ask, they don’t know their rights, and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care. And I think this is a classical situation that illustrates this dilemma for families in intensive care because from what you’re sharing with me, there’s nothing preventing your dad from going home, assuming he can’t come off the ventilator.
Now, if he can come off the ventilator, I argue, you should be aiming for that and get him off the ventilator, get him off of the tracheostomy, then going home will be so much easier.
We are really focusing on patients at home that are unable to be weaned off the ventilator. And if that’s you, then like you’re saying your father has many other health issues that would prevent home care due to a feeding tube and catheter and such. Those are all things that pretty much all of our clients have. They have a feeding tube, they have a catheter, that won’t stop your dad from going home.
If you look in the hierarchy of things, the ventilator and the tracheostomy are the most complex out of that feeding tube and the catheter nowhere near as complex as the ventilator and the tracheostomy. So from what you are sharing with me, home care is absolutely possible. We just got to start the conversation and we got to find out a little bit more what keeps your dad on the ventilator at the moment, you haven’t really shared any details why you think he needs the ventilator on an ongoing basis. But if that’s the case, I can’t see why we couldn’t look after your dad at home.
I really hope that helps. And thank you so much for watching.
Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care, in a similar situation, if you’re looking for home care, as a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in intensive care, if you have a loved one, ventilator-dependent, tracheostomy, you should contact us. We can basically replicate an ICU bed in the community and provide Intensive Care at Home there. And again, similar for your loved one, if they’re stuck in ICU or on a respiratory ward with BiPAP or CPAP or if they need home TPN, you should contact us as well.
And we are currently operating all around Australia and all capital cities, including regional and remote Australia. Also, if you’re watching this and you’re in the United States, you should contact us as well. We can help you in the United States as well.
In Australia, we are a DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs), TAC (Transport Accident Commission) Victoria, ICare, New South Wales and also an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) approved community service provider. We also provide NDIS specialist support coordination. You should contact us for that as well.
And even if your loved one is at home, for example, and you don’t have enough support, you’re struggling with staff, you should contact us as well. We can help you with all of that.
And again, if you need more information, go to intensivecareathome.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or simply send us an email to [email protected].
Also, if you are a critical care nurse and you’re looking for work and you have a minimum of two years ICU/ pediatric ICU experience, and ideally with a postgraduate critical care qualification, you should definitely contact us as well. We currently have jobs in Melbourne Country, Victoria, Bendigo, and Warragul, as well as Sydney and Brisbane. Please contact us.
And if you are an intensive care consultant watching this we are currently also expanding our medical team. Please contact us as well.
Also have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There you have access to me and my team 24-hours a day, and we answer all questions, intensive care and Intensive Care at Home related.
Also, if you need a medical record review or an NDIS nursing assessment, please contact us as well. We can help you with that. We can do medical record reviews and NDIS nursing assessments for clients.
Thank you for watching.
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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. Bye.