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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 tracheostomies. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst providing quality services for long-term ventilated adults and children with tracheotomies, which also includes patients at home that have a tracheostomy and are not ventilated. It includes adults and children at home that are BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) and CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) needs. It includes Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition), Home IV electrolyte infusions, Home IV antibiotics and anyone who’s medically complex, we can serve at home.
So anyone who needs intensive care long-term can go home with our service if they’re medically stable, but they are on life support.
So in today’s blog, I want to answer a question from Anita and she says, “My father is in intensive care. He’s been a quadriplegic for a long time, but now he’s got a tracheostomy. He was living at home independently. But now with the tracheostomy, he needs 24-hour nursing care at home. We need someone that can manage a tracheostomy safely at home because we fear he’s at risk of dying or going back to ICU if we send him home without support.”
Yeah, Anita, you’re right on the money here. And, this is what our service does, Intensive Care at Home. We are looking after patients at home that have a tracheostomy and we’re looking after them at home 24 hours a day because with critical care nurses or with intensive care nurses with a minimum of two years ICU or critical care nursing experience, because that is what is needed and is also evidence-based.
So, you already know that your dad is at high risk of potentially dying with a tracheostomy, especially if he’s a quadriplegic and he can’t maintain his own airway. And he can’t manage his own airway in case of a medical emergency, which can happen at any given time with a tracheostomy.
So, when you look on our website at intensivecareathome.com, there’s a section called the Mechanical Home Ventilation Guidelines and you will see that it’s documented in those evidence-based guidelines that anyone at home with a tracheostomy, ventilation, needs a critical care nurse with a minimum of two year’s critical care nursing experience 24-hours a day to keep them at home predictably and safely more importantly.
So, what I’m saying, here is evidence-based. You won’t see anybody else talking about what’s evidence-based.
So, case in point we know of many participants or clients in the home that have died because they didn’t have evidence-based care, they didn’t have critical care nurses at home. And clearly either family members, disability support workers, or even general registered nurses without intensive care experience, that could not manage a medical emergency with the tracheostomy and clients have passed away because of that.
So I’m talking from decades of experience here. What can happen in the home if you’re not having the appropriate care for your father? So, I hope that answers your question.
What to do, especially when someone is quadriplegic. A lot of our clients actually are C1, C2, C3, C4 spinal injury, clients. Not all of them have a tracheostomy, but especially C1, C2 what’s the lower level of injury? C3, C4 clients are often BiPAP or CPAP dependent. They need a cough assist often. But we cover the whole spectrum and once again, it’s all evidence-based, especially with spinal injuries as well.
You need to look out for autonomic dysreflexia that needs to be managed very closely by a registered nurse. So it’s really, really important that you have someone for your dad or a service for your dad and nurses 24-hours a day who know what they’re doing, how to prevent hospital readmissions and to keep you at home predictably because you don’t want him to go back to ICU or to a hospital. He’s much better off at home.
So I hope that answers your question, Anita.
Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care or in hospital with a similar situation, please contact us at intensivecareathome.com. We are currently operating all around Australia in all major capital cities but also in rural and regional areas.
We are an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) accredited service provider, also TAC (Transport Accident Commission) in Victoria, ICare in New South Wales, NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland), as well as DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs). We have also received funding through Departments of Health and some public hospitals. So, if you are a hospital executive and you’re watching this, please contact us as well. We can help you with your bed blocks in ICU and in hospitals.
Furthermore, if you are an NDIS support coordinator and you have a participant that needs intensive care nurses at home because they have ventilation or tracheostomy needs, but you aren’t sure about the funding from the NDIS. Please contact us. We can help you with that. We wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t know how to advocate for the right level of funding, you can contact us.
Or if you’re looking for an NDIS support coordinator. If you are an NDIS participant, please contact us as well. We have our own NDIS support coordinator and NDIS specialist support coordinator.
If you are a critical care nurse and you’re looking for a career change, please contact us as well. We have work for critical care nurses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and other areas.
If you are an intensive care specialist and you want a career change, we’re currently expanding our medical team as well. Or if you are an intensive care specialist and you know of patients in ICU that want to go home and help you with your bed blocks, please contact us as well. Thank you so much.
We are currently also providing an emergency department bypass service for the Western Sydney local area health district. So we can also help you keep your emergency department empty by providing an emergency department service in people’s home to prevent patients from going to emergency in the first place.
Similar to that, we keep ICU beds empty, we can also keep ED beds empty. So I hope that gives you some insights in how we are helping and what we are doing.
Also we are the only third party accredited Intensive Care at Home service in Australia. No other service as far as I’m aware in 2023 has built the same level of accreditation and has built the same level of intellectual property. So you will be in very good hands with us.
We’re also providing NDIS nursing assessments. If you need them, please contact us as well.
And last but not least if you like my video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for Intensive Care at Home and for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell. Comment below what you want to see next. Share the video with your friends and families.
Thank you so much for watching.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, and I will talk to you in a few days.
Take care for now.