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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 patients and medically complex patients at home including Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition), Home IV potassium and magnesium infusions, Home IV antibiotics, port management, central line management, PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line management, and Hickman’s line management.
In last week’s blog, I talked about,
24/7 ICU NURSES NEEDED AT HOME FOR VENTILATED/ TRACHEOSTOMY CLIENTS TO AVOID DEATH & ICU READMISSION
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 and the question today is
What’s the Difference Between BIPAP & CPAP in the Community & When Do You Need INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME?
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 patients and medically complex patients at home including Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition), Home IV potassium and magnesium infusions, Home IV antibiotics, port management, central line management, PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line management, and Hickman’s line management.
In today’s blog, I want to talk about, “The difference between BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) and CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) ventilation at home and where Intensive Care at Home comes in.” Now, let’s just quickly start.
There are many patients at home that are on BIPAP or CPAP for sleep apnea. I’m not talking about this today because this is a condition that patients can manage themselves. They can manage their own BIPAP and CPAP at home. If they are having sleep apnea, most of the time, there are some exceptions about that as well. For example, if a patient has dementia, then even sleep apnea patients at home need critical care nurses. We’ve certainly provided that type of care at home as well.
But let’s just quickly break it down, the difference between BIPAP and CPAP. CPAP is basically one level of pressure throughout inhalation. So, it provides a continuous stream of air at the fixed pressure to keep the airways open, preventing pulses in breathing. It’s commonly used for obstructive sleep apnea, but it might also be used in neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy can be used as well. BIPAP, on the other hand, offers two different pressures: a higher pressure for inhalation and a lower pressure for exhalation. This dual level approach can be more comfortable for some individuals, and it’s often prescribed for those who have trouble with CPAP or have certain medical conditions, like I mentioned, cerebral palsy, also spinal muscular atrophy in the community, but also Duchenne syndrome, MS, also MND (Motor Neurone Disease) in the early stages, BIPAP can be used as well.
In summary, while CPAP provides a constant pressure, BIPAP provides different pressures for inhalation and exhalation, offering a more customizable breathing support.
Now, in the community, like I said, some of our clients are on BIPAP and CPAP, intermittently and they need a critical care nurse because like I said, they have conditions such as cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease, Duchenne, spinal muscular atrophy.
But also, we have clients with hypoxic brain injury that need a BIPAP or CPAP as well, and whenever there’s a neurological condition, and they can’t manage the BIPAP and CPAP themselves, that’s when they need critical care, similar to a hospital ICU when someone is on BIPAP and on CPAP in the hospital, they’re usually not on a ward, they’re usually in ICU or for children, they are in a pediatric ICU.
So, when you look at the Mechanical Home Ventilation Guidelines on our website, which are evidence-based, you will see that out of over 25 years of Intensive Care at Home nursing, predominantly in Germany, but also in the last 10 years here in Australia, you will see that the evidence says that not only for tracheostomy ventilation, but also for BIPAP and CPAP ventilation at home, for those medical conditions, you need a critical care nurse, 24 hours a day, to manage that. Similar to an intensive care unit.
There’s also aspiration risk, for patients on BiPAP and on CPAP. Some of them might have a fundoplication and with a fundoplication that eliminates the risk for aspiration pneumonia after vomiting.
But in any case, that’s the difference between BIPAP and CPAP. You will see that if your loved one has a condition like that or if you are watching this and you have conditions like that, you’re much better off with critical care nurses at home because otherwise, you will either end up in hospital back in ICU or even worse.
So, that is my quick tip today in my blog.
Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care who needs Intensive Care at Home, please reach out to us and we can help you take your loved one home. We provide critical care nurses at home, 24- hours a day, for patients on ventilation with tracheostomy, patients that are not ventilated but have a tracheostomy, patients that are on BIPAP or on CPAP, Home TPN like I mentioned, IV potassium, IV magnesium infusions, including IV antibiotics at home as well.
Now, we are an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) approved service provider in Australia, TAC (Transport Accident Commission) in Victoria, iCare in New South Wales, and NIISQ (National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland) in Queensland. We’re also a DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs) approved service provider all around Australia. We have received funding through public hospitals, Departments of Health, as well as some private health funds. So, please reach out to us if you need help.
We’re also providing NDIS Level 2 and Level 3 specialist support coordination, if you need help with that. We’re also providing NDIS nursing assessments, if you need help with that.
If you are a critical care nurse and you’re looking for a career change, we want to hear from you. If you have worked for a minimum of two years in ICU or ED. Ideally, you have completed a postgraduate critical care qualification.
We also want to hear from you if you’re an intensive care specialist. We are currently expanding our medical team as well. Or if you’re an intensive care specialist and you have bed blocks in your ICUs, which I know you have, then I encourage you to reach out to us as well. We can help you eliminate your bed blocks by taking patients home, which also includes palliative care for some patients.
If you’re a hospital executive watching this, we will also want to hear from you because, again, we can help you eliminate your bed locks in hospitals in ICU but also in ED. We are currently providing an ED bypass service for the Western Sydney Local Area Health District, where we send critical care nurses into the home for ED patients that we keep at home instead of them going to ED, really great service and we can do the same for your hospital, keeping your ED empty and bed block as well so that you can achieve the four-hour rule in ED.
Now, if you’re an NDIS, Support Coordinator and you’re looking for nursing care for your participant or you’re looking for a nursing assessment for your participant, please reach out to us as well. We can help you with that too.
If you like my videos and you want regular updates for families in intensive care and Intensive Care at Home, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates, 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.
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.