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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 & Children with Tracheostomies and otherwise medically complex Patients by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units, reducing the cost of an ICU bed by 50%, whilst providing Quality Care!

In the last blog I shared another INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME case study.

INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME nursing services for a medically complex and ventilated toddler, making a seamless transition from hospital to home to free up hospital beds!

You can check out last week’s episode by clicking on the link here.

In today’s blog I want to talk about what many families in Intensive Care want when it comes to end of life for their loved one!

One-way extubation at home instead of in Intensive Care! 

After having worked in Intensive Care for nearly 20 years in three different countries, where I also worked as a Nurse Unit manager in ICU for over 5 years I have learned a thing or two about what families in Intensive care really want but don’t get in Intensive Care!

Many Patients in Intensive Care that approach their end of life and are on mechanical ventilation with a breathing tube/endotracheal tube will need to be extubated (removal of the breathing tube/endotracheal tube) at some point.

Once those Patients have the breathing tube/endotracheal tube removed they will inevitably approach their end of life because of their incurable and life limiting critical illness.

This is often a rather confronting, unpleasant and undignified procedure, especially in the confines of a sterile and non-family friendly Intensive Care environment.

Not only do families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care need to come to terms with the imminent passing of their loved ones, they also don’t get given a choice where this “one-way extubation” and in essence end of life situation will take place.

Many if not most families in Intensive Care would like this “one-way extubation” to be performed at home rather than in Intensive Care!

This is certainly what I learned in nearly 20 years Intensive Care nursing experience.

This makes perfect sense simply because families in intensive care want to make informed decisions, they want peace of mind, control, power and influence, period!

Families in Intensive Care want end of life situations for their loved ones at home in a more Patient and more family friendly and therefore holistic care environment!

Furthermore, 75% of people in first world countries want to die at home and yet, less than 15% actually do approach their end of life at home!

There is a total mismatch in what people want and what they’ll get when it comes to end of life situations in intensive care!

Related article/video:

DO INTENSIVE CARE UNITS HAVE A “ONE SIZE FITS ALL” APPROACH WHEN IT COMES TO DYING?

A service like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME can support families in Intensive Care getting what they want when it comes to “one-way extubations” and end of life care at home rather than in Intensive Care!

INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME can provide “one-way extubation” services at home.

Whether you are a family looking for your loved one to be extubated at home or whether you are an Intensive Care Unit looking for such an option, just give us a call and we can get it organised!

If people don’t want their loved ones to die at home that’s fine as well, however we do need to give people choice in a first world country.

We also need to be more compassionate and empathetic towards families in Intensive Care and give them what they want when it comes to “one-way extubations” in intensive care, by giving them the option to have their loved one extubated at home when it comes to end of life situations.

End of life in Intensive Care when it comes to “one-way extubation” can’t be a “one size fits all” approach.

Kind Regards

Patrik Hutzel

 

If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care including palliative care or Long-term acute care (also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator, if you want to know how to get funding for our service or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.

Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230

USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090

UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018

Also, check out our careers section here

www.intensivecareathome.com/careers

We are currently hiring ICU/PICU nurses for clients in the Melbourne metropolitan area and in South Gippsland/Victoria.

We are an NDIS, TAC (Victoria) and DVA (Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.

Also, have a look at our range of full service provisions here

http://intensivecareathome.com/services

We have also been part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program for innovative health care companies last year!

https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator

https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/

Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!