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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 services for long-term ventilated adults and children and medically complex patients, including BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), non-invasively ventilated clients. And also, we provide services for home TPN clients, parenteral nutrition.
In last week’s blog, I talked about,
PALLIATIVE CARE AT HOME FOR A CLIENT ON BIPAP INSTEAD OF ICU! INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME CASE STUDY!
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 Mother’s having Trouble to Wean Off from Ventilation & Tracheostomy, with COPD in ICU, Can She 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 providing quality services for long-term ventilated adults and children and medically complex patients, including BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), non-invasively ventilated clients. And also, we provide services for home TPN clients, parenteral nutrition.
In today’s blog post, I want to talk about a question that we had from a reader/client who says, “My 78-year-old mom is currently having trouble being weaned off the ventilator and the tracheostomy. She has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and she’s stuck in ICU for the last three months and she’s desperate to go home. Can your service Intensive Care at Home help with that?” And the short answer is yes, of course we can help with that. That’s our area of expertise.
So, what happens in ICU, for example, as you’ve probably already seen, your mom would be stuck on sort of in a vicious cycle. Maybe her CO2 (carbon dioxide) is rising when they’re trying to wean her off the ventilator, especially with the COPD, and then she gets sort of knocked back and she needs to go back on the ventilator again. Then, she probably gets depressed in ICU as much as you and your family are probably getting depressed because you’re probably spending your life in intensive care. You’re beholden to often restrictive visiting hours.
You can probably see your mom isn’t really getting a rest in a noisy, busy ICU where patients often struggle to get into a natural day and night rhythm. Maybe you’ll feel like your mom is not getting the attention and the care she needs in a situation like that. Maybe there is a high staff turnover. Maybe there’s different nurses looking after her every single day, not really getting to know your mom because that’s part of our service Intensive Care at Home. We’re trying to create a stable team for our clients who can manage the routine that you, as a client wants for your mom or that your mom wants.
It’s not the first time where an elderly COPD patient that probably went into ICU didn’t share why she went into ICU, but maybe she went into ICU with Type 2 respiratory failure. Maybe she had a pneumonia, maybe she had an exacerbation of her COPD, whatever the case may be. Then, they spend prolonged time on the ventilator and need a tracheostomy and then have challenges of getting off the ventilator. And then people look for solutions because they realize that long-term weaning in ICU is just not conducive for the recovery of anyone because it’s just such a depressing environment. Whereas at home, it’s just so much more patient and family friendly.
Also, on top of that, from an ICU perspective, an ICU bed costs around five to $6,000 per bed day. Whereas home care, we can provide the intensive care bed at home for around half of that cost. So, it’s a win-win situation all around. And ICUs need the spare bed.
And also, from a healthcare consumer perspective, you think that hospitals want to partner with consumers and when you listen to consumers, that’s what consumers want. They’re reaching out to an organization like us saying, “Hey, ICU’s no longer working for us. My mom wants to go home. How can we put this into place?” And we certainly can put it in place here at Intensive Care at Home, and we will find ICU nurses for you that can continue the care at home for your mom and hopefully wean her off the ventilator at home.
I’m not sure whether weaning is possible at all. We would need to understand more about the ins and outs, but certainly, it is possible for your mom to go home with our service. So, I hope that helps.
That’s my question answered for today.
Thank you so much for watching.
If you have a loved one in intensive care in a similar situation with an adult or a child and you want to go home, especially if your loved one or yourself is on a ventilator with a tracheostomy or on BIPAP or CPAP ventilation stuck in a hospital or including home TPN, you should contact us here at intensivecareathome.com.
We are currently operating all over Australia but also in the U.S. You should contact us if you are in the U.S. as well. We operate in all major capital cities in Australia, including regional and remote areas. We also provide NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) specialist support coordination. But either way, you should contact us at intensivecareathome.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send us an email to [email protected].
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 in a membership area and via email.
And if you are a critical care nurse watching this with a minimum of two years ICU and pediatric ICU experience, you should contact us as well because we have jobs in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane but also in regional areas such as Warragul in Victoria, as well as Bendigo. So, you should contact us as well.
If you are an intensive care specialist in Australia, we are currently wanting to expand our medical team as well. If you’re an ICU consultant that has an interest in what we do, please contact us as well.
And if you’re watching this and you are at home, or your loved one is at home on a ventilator with a tracheostomy but doesn’t get the care they need, you’re not happy with whatever you’ve got at the moment, please contact us as well. We can help you either way.
And if you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care, you should contact us as well. We do review medical records in real time, but also after intensive care as well. And we also provide NDIS nursing assessments.
Now, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care and Intensive Care at Home, share the video with your friends and families, click the like button, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, or what questions and insights you have from this video.
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.