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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 providing quality care for our clients. And also we look after medically complex clients, adults and children at home, including Home BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), Home CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition). We are also providing IV infusions at home, including IV potassium, magnesium and electrolyte infusions.

So in today’s blog, I want to read a question from a reader and the question is, “My mom has COPD. She’s in and out of intensive care with high CO2”. CO2 is carbon dioxide. “It places her on BiPAP in ICU. However, and they are also pushing me to put her on a breathing tube and intubate her. But they’re also saying that it’s very risky and, if she goes on the breathing tube that she may never come off it and that outcomes may be catastrophic. What should I do if this happens again?”

Well, that’s a great question from you and here is the answer.

So, what you should be doing in a situation like that is, if your mom has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and she’s got high CO2, she probably needs BiPAP overnight at least. And she probably needs BiPAP during certain periods during the day. And that is something that can be done at home and that will most likely at least in the short term, keep her off intubation and the breathing tube.

Now, I don’t have all the details, of course, from what you’re sharing with me. However, what probably needs to be done here, your mom needs to go for a sleep study and they need to do a sleep study on the BiPAP, do some arterial blood gases (230), see whether the CO2 or the carbon dioxide can be lowered with the BiPAP. Most likely can be.

And then you will also see that your mom’s condition will improve. You will also see that once the CO2 is down to normal levels, you will see that she’s no longer confused because usually a high CO2 or carbon dioxide will make patients confused and you will see her condition will improve big time. So then there should also be no longer any need for going into ICU or into intensive care.

Now, here’s how you can make this happen in the long run. So, what is really important here is with our service Intensive Care at Home, we have a number of clients at home on BIPAP or on CPAP that have either overnight intensive care nurses or even during the day, depending on how often the BiPAP or the CPAP is needed. But this is exactly how we keep patients out of intensive care. By sending the intensive care nurse into the home. If your mom goes into intensive care on the BiPAP, well, she also needs an intensive care nurse, we might as well send that intensive care nurse into the home and provide the same level of service at home. So your mom can stay home predictably and your mom can improve her quality of life at home. Predictably.

It’s all about the predictability of the situation because at the moment, it sounds to me like the only thing that’s predictable for you and for your mom is that she’s going back into ICU and she’s at risk of intubation. And then if she never comes off the ventilator, she might need a tracheostomy and you certainly want to avoid that.

So, I hope that helps and answers your question.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care in a similar situation or you have a loved one in intensive care on a ventilator and a tracheostomy, I urge you to contact us because we can help you take your loved one home.

If you are a hospital executive or an intensive care professional watching this, we can help you manage your intensive care beds more effectively.

If you are an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) support coordinator and you’re watching this and you have clients and NDIS participants that have a ventilator, tracheostomy that need by BiPAP, CPAP, need home TPN. Please contact us as well. We can help you to serve your clients as well. We can also help you with the advocacy with the NDIS (247). We are very experienced on that aspect with the advocacy with the NDIS.

But we are also a TAC (Transport Accident Commission) in Victoria approved service provider, ICare in New South Wales, NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland), as well as DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs). We also have received funding through the Department of Health and some public hospitals. So please contact us as well.

Now, if you are a critical care nurse and you’re watching this, we currently have vacancies for CCRNS in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

If you’re looking for a career change, if you’re tired of the hustle and bustle in ICU and you’re looking for something more family friendly, more patient centric, more holistic. That’s the place to come. We are the place to come to.

If you are an intensive care specialist and you’re looking for a career change. We are currently expanding our medical team as well with Intensive Care at Home. So if you’re an intensive care specialist, we want to hear from you as well.

And currently we are operating all around Australia in all major capital cities. Please contact us if you need help.

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.

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.

We also provide NDIS nursing reviews, NDIS nursing assessments and we also review medical records for our clients. Please contact us for all of that.

Thank you so much for watching this video.

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

Take care for now.