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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 care for long-term, ventilated adults and children with tracheostomies, medically complex patients at home including Home TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition), BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) ventilation, IV potassium infusion, IV magnesium infusion, port management, central line management, PICC (peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line management, and Hickman’s line management at home.

In today’s blog post, I want to talk about a patient that we had an inquiry from or from the family that we had an inquiry from that I want to elaborate on for. So let me dive into this.

So a family contacted us saying that the hospital wants to send their loved one home with a tracheostomy and the nasogastric tube under the care of the wife. Now, we were very surprised and shocked by that saying that, the family shouldn’t jump on this because the risk of a) the patient dying at home without intensive care nurses 24 hours a day is pretty high because anything could happen with an artificial airway, which is what a tracheostomy is and b) with a nasogastric tube the risk of aspiration is very high. And therefore, we said, well, we could take this man home with Intensive Care at Home, of course, because that’s bread and butter for us. But the risk of him going home without critical care nurses 24 hours a day could spark all sorts of disaster.

Now, lo and behold the family did want to take him home and he bounced back in ICU within less than 24 hours just as we predicted with complications. He dropped his oxygen levels and we are not surprised by that because you don’t know what to look for. If you don’t know how to suction, if you don’t know how to manage a nasogastric tube, the risk for an aspiration pneumonia is pretty high, which is exactly what happened. He ended up with a pneumonia back in ICU within less than 24 hours.

So, the hospital should have never discharged this man without a service like Intensive Care at Home that is third party accredited for Intensive Care at Home. That has the community experience and intellectual property to make all of that happen. Our expertise is to keep long-term intensive care patients at home predictably, otherwise we wouldn’t be in business. So by sending intensive care nurses into the home 24 hours a day, that’s how we make this happen for our clients and their families.

But we also make it happen for hospitals to keep their in demand and also very expensive ICU beds empty. It’s a win-win situation.

Now, furthermore, if someone needs a tracheostomy in the long run, they are better off with a PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) tube. There are situations where we don’t recommend the PEG tube, but in a situation like that where the tracheostomy can’t be removed and the PEG tube should be used as the next step because the risk of a nasogastric tube at home, has inherent risks. It can be managed with managed patients at home with nasogastric tubes, adults and children, we can do all of that. But if someone needs a tracheostomy in the long run, they are better off with a PEG tube.

In any case, so why do I talk about this today? Really? What I want to say is going home is possible with tracheostomy with ventilation, invasive or noninvasive ventilation. That’s all possible at home but not without critical care nurses 24 hours a day.

Now, case in point when you look on our website, there’s a section, the Mechanical Home Ventilation Guidelines. When you look at that section, it says, that after much evidence of nearly 25 years’ Intensive Care at Home services in Germany and Australia, that it’s only safe if you are sending critical care nurses into the home with a minimum of two years’ critical care nursing experience. Everything less than that is unsafe.

And once again, case in point with this lady here, her husband bounced back within less than 24 hours because they didn’t have critical care nurses at home. And also, we have worked with some clients where we were only funded for night shifts and the funding bodies were only funding the night shifts and no critical care nurses during the day. And we were expecting that these patients would not survive during the day. And that was exactly correct. They passed away during the day cause either parents or spouses or nursing aides could not manage a tracheostomy or a ventilator and the feeding tubes. That’s how dangerous it is.

There needs to be some standards in the community and we are the standard really. There’s no other service in the community that has third party accreditation for Intensive Care at Home.

Now, currently with Intensive Care at Home, we are operating all around Australia in all major capital cities as well as regional and rural areas. We are an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) approved service provider. We are a TAC (Transport Accident Commission) approved service provider in Victoria, an ICare approved service provider in New South Wales, a NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland) approved service provider in Queensland, a DVA approved service provider, the Department of Veteran Affairs. As well as we have received funding through public hospitals as well as Department of Health, as well as private health insurance. So, that’s how we make this all happen.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care, on a ventilator with the tracheostomy long-term or if your loved one doesn’t have a ventilator but has a tracheostomy but is stuck in hospital, please reach out to us. We can help you with any of that, including how to obtain funding for your loved one or you might be watching this and you might be stuck yourself in a hospital. Please reach out to us at the intensivecareathome.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected]. That’s again, [email protected].

Now, also, if you are an NDIS Support Coordinator and you’re looking for nursing care for your NDIS participants, please reach out to us as well. We can help you. We are also offering our own Level 2 and Level 3 NDIS support coordination. Please contact us. We’re also offering NDIS nursing assessments. If you need one of these, please reach out to us as well.

And if you are a critical care nurse and you are looking for a career change, we are currently hiring in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as in Bendigo in Country Victoria, Albury Wodonga, on the new South Wales Victorian border, as well as in the Warragul area. If you’re a critical care nurse with a minimum of two years, critical care nursing experience, ideally with a postgraduate critical care qualification we want to hear from you if you want to work for us.

But we are looking for people that want to work with us in the long run because that’s what our clients want. They don’t want people coming and going. They want the same people over and over again. So we are not a nursing agency, we are actually a service provider with a tailor-made solution for our clients. So, only reach out to us if you’re genuine in wanting to work with us, if you’re genuine in wanting to make a difference to our clients and their families. And if you want to become part of a great team.

And if you are an intensive care specialist and ICU consultant, we’re also currently expanding our medical team, we want to hear from you as well. And if you’re an intensive care specialist and we know you’ve got bed blocks in your ICU, so if you need help with managing your bed blocks, especially when it comes to long-term patients in intensive care, please contact us as well at intensivecareathome.com, on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected].

Also, if you’re a hospital executive and you’re watching this, once again, we know you’ve got bed blocks in your hospital, please reach out to us as well. By the way, we are also providing an emergency department bypass service for the Western Sydney local area health district and we can provide the same for your hospital to take the pressure off your emergency department as well.

Now, if you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care and Intensive Care at Home. Click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families and comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have from this video.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com, and I will talk to you in a few days.

Take care for now.