Intensive Care at Home

https://intensivecareathome.com/the-icu-doctor-is-pushing-us-for-end-of-life-for-our-son-but-we-want-him-home-can-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-our-ventilator-dependent-son-home/ THE ICU DOCTOR IS PUSHING US FOR END-OF-LIFE FOR OUR SON BUT WE WANT HIM HOME? CAN INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME HELP US TO BRING OUR VENTILATOR-DEPENDENT SON HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is The ICU Doctor Is Pushing Us for End-of-Life for Our Son But We Want Him Home? Can Intensive Care at Home Help Us to Bring our Ventilator-Dependent Son Home? Hi Patrik, The precipitating event for my son to go on aspiration pneumonia was in the context of a rare brain disease, Rasmussen’s encephalitis. His course over the past 11 months has been to stay in ICU and he’s still there at present. This has been complicated by a hospital or by a ventilator-associated pneumonia and severe malnutrition. The most probable cause of failure to wean my son off the ventilator is chronic muscle wasting throughout his body with some lung tissue scarring due to multiple pneumonia events. The Rasmussen’s encephalitis has been treated and not progressed per neurologist, but has left my son Jeffrey with a significant left hemisphere defect. My son can often tolerate up to 24 hours of spontaneous breathing with pressure support of 12, PEEP of 5, FiO2 of 28%, but then can only manage about 60 minutes of tracheostomy with a tracheostomy collar. Many of the experienced ICU doctors and ICU nurses we’ve seen believe he’s capable of weaning, but the current ICU doctor believes he will be ventilator-dependent for the rest of his life and is pushing us for either end-of-life or to stay in ICU for longer. But we want him home. I hope this helps to look at our son’s situation. We want him home with your service. What are the next steps? How can you help us in this situation? From Tom Hi Tom, Thank you so much for detailing your son’s situation. Well, it sounds to me like your son is a very good candidate to go home, especially after 11 months of intensive care. That’s terrible. And many of our clients that we look after at home have been in that predicament of having been in ICU for months on end. And whether he can be weaned or not, I couldn’t tell you at the moment. I mean, we would need to talk to the doctors, but in any case, after 11 months of ICU, it’s time to get out there. Sometimes people can’t be weaned in ICU because they’re simply depressed. They’re simply not having any quality of life. They’re stuck in an ICU room, ICU bed space, ICU cubicle, whatever you want to call it, often with no natural daylight, often with no day and night rhythm or with no natural day and night rhythm because often the lights are on and off all day and all night in ICU, because there’s people everywhere. It’s loud. It’s noisy. It’s very difficult to get in a normal day and night rhythm. And unlike at home, where your son could, for example, go on the balcony, he could go on the veranda, whatever your setup is, can go and get some fresh air, can have a routine that is conducive to your son’s lifestyle, at the moment. His routine is dependent on the ICU’s schedule and ICU schedules are very busy. So at home, it is much more tailor-made to your son’s wishes and to your son’s situation, and not dependent on ICU schedules... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/the-icu-doctor-is-pushing-us-for-end-of-life-for-our-son-but-we-want-him-home-can-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-our-ventilator-dependent-son-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/how-to-select-service-provider-icah/ How to Select a Service Provider When You Need INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME! Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is How to Select Service Provider When You Need Intensive Care at 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 patients and medically complex patients at home. So in today’s video blog, I want to talk about how to choose your service provider when it comes to Intensive Care at Home services. And I will talk about that today. I break it down into number one, if you have a loved one in intensive care and you want to go home. Now I also want to break it down, if you have a loved one at home already, which happens sometimes as well. So let’s break it down to number one, when you have a loved one in intensive care, ventilation and tracheostomy and you can’t see your loved one leaving intensive care anytime soon. The intensive care team is telling you that it takes a while for your loved one to come off the ventilator. They may even tell you they may not come off the ventilator at all, whatever your situation is, you need to think about how do you approach this when going home into the community. So the first thing that you will need is obviously a service provider and how will you choose a service provider? Well, obviously we, at Intensive Care at Home as far as I’m aware, we are the only service provider worldwide that is accredited to provide Intensive Care at Home. So we are an accredited healthcare service here in Australia. We are also accredited with the NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but we are also accredited with hospitals with other funding bodies, such as the TAC in Victoria for Transport Accident Commission or the DVA, the Department of Veteran Affairs. So we can pretty much work with any funding body in Australia, because again we are an accredited health care service. So we have policies and procedures. We have the workforce, the intensive care nurses that can bring the intensive care skills into the home to make a transition from intensive care to a home care environment safe. Again, because we have third-party healthcare service accreditation and we have accreditation for Intensive Care at Home services. Again, no other organization, as far as I’m aware in the whole world has achieved that to this point. So, therefore we are having a workforce and we’re employing hundreds of years of intensive care nursing experience in the community. Again, I don’t think there is any service provider in this world that brings as many intensive care nursing skills in the community than we do at Intensive Care at Home. Now, next, the other thing that is important, you need to look at whether a service is actually providing evidence-based care, evidence-based services. And why is this important? Well, you know, everything in medicine in nursing is based on research and Intensive Care at Home services have been around for the last 25 years, predominantly in Germany and other European countries, but also now in Australia since 2013... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/how-to-select-service-provider-icah/

https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-services-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-our-18-year-old-daughter-with-cerebral-palsy-on-a-ventilator-from-icu-to-home/ CAN YOUR SERVICES AT INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME HELP US TO BRING OUR 18-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER WITH CEREBRAL PALSY ON A VENTILATOR FROM ICU TO HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Can Your Services at Intensive Care at Home Help Us to Bring Our 18-year old Daughter with Cerebral Palsy on a Ventilator from ICU to Home? Hi Patrik, Please give me some input as to whether or not I am providing realistic care and have the proper thinking process for my loving and dear 18-year old cerebral palsy daughter, Maria. For the last year in 2020, Maria had more and more chest infections at home. I was looking after her, but I realized something was wrong with her breathing. She had low oxygen levels and she had more and more chest infections eventually, she got pneumonia by the end of last year and she ended up in ICU where she was fighting infection and pneumonia. And we were then advised earlier this year that she needed a tracheostomy and she was placed on a ventilator. Presently, she’s still in ICU and although they did try and wean her off the ventilator, staff in ICU are very concerned that her cerebral palsy prevents her from being successful in being weaned off the ventilator. I was seeking to have her reevaluated by an outside doctor, but that hasn’t happened yet. We are in Sydney, Australia, and my daughter who is alert and is now also starting slowly to eat food, even though she’s ventilated with a tracheostomy, is very scared because even though she likes the food, she doesn’t want to aspirate and the doctors stop her from doing that. Maria keeps asking to have the tracheostomy and ventilator removed, which I don’t think is realistic, and the doctors also don’t think it’s realistic either. However, the ICU at the moment has no plan for her care except maintenance. My concern is that she has excessive mucus and sputum, and all they do is, appear to solve it with suctioning. Can something else be done for this problem? How can you help with Intensive Care at Home? And can you wean her at home? Please share any knowledge and information you can have because we definitely want to take Maria home. We can’t be in ICU for much longer, especially now with COVID. Please help. From Joe Hi Joe, Thank you so much for sending through your question, Joe. I hope I can help you and I can shed a lot of light on that. So first of all, your daughter needs to leave intensive care as quickly as possible, and that can be done with Intensive Care at Home. And the funding should come through the NDIS especially you are in Sydney, Australia. There is definitely funding now for intensive home care, for 24-hour nursing care to get patients out of intensive care, especially if they have a ventilator and a tracheostomy. So that is the first thing you need to know. Number two, you don’t want your daughter in ICU, especially with COVID at the moment. It’s just simply too dangerous for her to catch COVID as well in there. Number three, I’m not too surprised of what I’m seeing, because we have a number of patients at home that we are looking after with cerebral palsy and whilst none of them has a tracheostomy, most of them are ventilated on BiPAP ventilation without a tracheostomy, or they have BiPAP and a cough assist machine as well... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-services-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-our-18-year-old-daughter-with-cerebral-palsy-on-a-ventilator-from-icu-to-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/intensive-care-at-home-now-in-dallas-texas/ INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME, Now in Dallas, Texas Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline Song: Jarico - Island Music supported by@FreeBackgroundMusicForCreators #BackgroundMusicWithoutLimitations https://bit.ly/2XoXFnb #icu #intensivecare #criticalcaremedicine 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 our clients, which includes Home TPN (total parenteral nutrition), Home IV potassium infusions, Home BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), Home CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), tracheostomy care, IV antibiotics, as well as port management, central line management, PICC peripherally inserted central catheter) line management and Hickman’s line management. Now in today’s podcast, I bring on a repeat guest, Tara Thorpe in Dallas in the U.S. Patrik: Hi Tara, how are you? Tara: Hi, everyone. Good, thank you. How are you? Patrik: Very good. Thank you. Tara, thank you so much for coming on to a podcast again. I really appreciate it. Tara, you and I have been talking on and off for the last six months and we’ve recorded a previous podcast about launching Intensive Care at Home in the US. And today we want to talk more about how we make that happen. Tara, you are currently and you have been in Dallas in Texas for quite some time, and we now want to offer Intensive Care at Home in Dallas in Texas privately. Which means, Tara will be your go to person if you are living in Dallas in Texas or surroundings of Fort Worth, Tara is our clinic liaison nurse there. And she can help you with getting your family member home or you might be watching this or listening to this and you might have a family member at home who needs care because they’re on a ventilator or they’re on a trach or they need Home TPN, and that’s where Tara can help you. And just for the record here, Tara has worked with us in Australia for over two years and Tara, you’ve been a great staff member. You know exactly what needs to happen in someone’s home, when someone is ventilated with a tracheostomy. You know exactly what needs to happen, also for a hospital discharge if we are transitioning someone from hospital or from ICU to home, if they have a ventilator and the tracheostomy. Tell the people a little bit more about your experience. I know your experience very well, but tell us a little bit more what you’ve done in the past with us and how you can help our future clients in Dallas. Tara: Yeah, so I have ICU experience. I also have experience as a trauma RN too. And so specialize with ICU ventilated patients. Patients, as Patrik said, on TPN, PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line management, all the clinical sides of things, human dynamic stability, but more than that I really focus on a holistic type of care too, which is I like my patients once they’re home to really experience life the way that they want to in their own autonomous way. So not only are we focused on keeping you safe and out of hospital, we want you to have a good quality of life while you’re at home too. And so loved working with Intensive Care at Home. Still love working with Intensive Care at Home. And it’s a company that Patrik and I have been talking and really trying to get to Texas. So we’re so excited that it’s happening now and that we can provide the service to Texans because I have so many patients in hospital that when we discharge, the family doesn’t know where the patient can go when the hospital discharges and they’re deemed medically cleared to go home. Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/intensive-care-at-home-now-in-dallas-texas/

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-mom-cant-be-weaned-off-the-ventilator-in-icu-can-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-her-home/ MY MOM CAN’T BE WEANED OFF THE VENTILATOR IN ICU. CAN INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME HELP US TO BRING HER HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is My Mom Can’t Be Weaned off the Ventilator in ICU. Can Intensive Care at Home Help Us to Bring Her Home? Hi Patrik, My mother is 76 and she’s in intensive care. She was intubated for pneumonia and she ended up with a tracheostomy after about two weeks of ventilation with a breathing tube. The pneumonia got cleared with antibiotics, but she was in an induced coma and sedated for almost two weeks. That’s how long it took to get the pneumonia cleared. And then when she woke up, she was too weak to breathe by herself and to be extubated. Hence, the decision was made for her to have a tracheostomy. After that for a whole week, they seem to overload her with saline solution without giving her Lasix for her kidney disease. On top of that, my mom has AF (atrial fibrillation) and therefore has a weak heart. Her kidneys stopped and then she ended up on dialysis for the AF. She had Amiodarone, which seemed to slow, at least a heart rate down, but she’s still not back in a regular heart rhythm. After the 14 days on intubation ran out and we were told she has to have the tracheostomy and they told us she would then to be weaned. But now it’s been a month and they’re saying that she’s too old, weak and not responsive enough. You can fill in the blank. It always comes back to age that even though she was active before this and lived a very good quality of life. I finally got them to check her anemia. It was half of what it should have normally been. So blood transfusions brought her blood pressure back up and they were able to wean off the vasopressors and the inotropes. She also had a UTI, I believe, but the ICU team swore she didn’t have a UTI, even though she had a large one now being treated with Bactrim. It’s getting worse. After two months in ICU, her lungs are infected again. I have been told three times this week that she probably can’t be weaned, even though she wants to be, she is now alert and she can communicate with me on a piece of paper, write things down. She definitely has the will, but being bedridden for two months, clearly isn’t helping. We are in Sydney, Australia, and we want to bring my mom home. How do we go about it? From Katrina. Hi Katrina, Thank you so much for your email and inquiry. Katrina, the best way forward for your mom is really Intensive Care at Home. Get her out of ICU after two months in there. It sounds like a situation like many of our other clients that are stuck in ICU and we can help them to go home. Weaning can be done at home. She just needs to be off the inotropes and the vasopressors ideally. We can do blood transfusions at home. But it would be ideal if she was off the inotropes and vasopressors. But other than that, we can start mobilizing your mom at home. It’ll be such a better environment. The other challenge that I can see is that, if you’re not getting her home, they might eventually send her to a hospital ward and on the hospital ward, she won’t get the ICU care that she will need as long as she’s on a ventilator with a tracheostomy. So therefore it is imperative for you to get the ball rolling and talk to us and start looking at home care options. So for example, your mom at 76, won’t qualify for the NDIS, but she should qualify for hospital in the home options. And again, you should be starting the discussions with the hospital, as well as with us here at Intensive Care at Home... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/my-mom-cant-be-weaned-off-the-ventilator-in-icu-can-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-to-bring-her-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/successful-transition-better-standards-of-care-from-pediatric-icu-to-intensive-care-at-home-for-my-toddler-with-a-tracheostomy/ CASE STUDY: SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION & BETTER STANDARDS OF CARE FROM PEDIATRIC ICU TO INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME FOR A TODDLER WITH A TRACHEOSTOMY Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare This is a case study of an ex-premature baby, now a toddler, who went home with tracheostomy after weaning from CPAP in hospital after prolonged hospital and initial NICU and then PICU stay through Intensive Care at Home. Successful Transition & Better Standards of Care from Pediatric ICU to Intensive Care at Home for my Toddler with a Tracheostomy. MEDICAL BACKGROUND: This intensive care at home client was an ex-prem baby (24+5/40). CLD. Difficulties with weaning from CPAP led to further investigations, revealing tracheomalacia/tracheobronchomegaly requiring a tracheostomy. No oxygen required. Speaking valve: tolerated during day when awake under direct supervision for short periods. Overnight CPAP ceased following sleep study. PDA resolved and small ASD. Difficulties with feeding and vomiting. Nasogastric tube feeding. Findings from the Allied health team assessment indicated that the patient presents with global developmental delay characterized by delays in gross and fine motor skills, communication, and cognition compared to children of a similar age. This can be explained by both the prematurity and prolonged hospital stay due to other complex medical and surgical issues. Hx began having seizures day 3-5 of life (bilateral jerking movements) requiring multiple AEDs to control. EEG: focal seizures (right), background mildly dysmature for age. Seizures generalised. Phenobarbitone ceased. MRI Brain: structurally normal, normal white matter volume. Baseline assessment – RR 32-50 bpm, Sp02 95-100% in RA normal suctioning requirements: daytime —30 minutely, overnight minimal. Bradycardia at times during sleep down to 70-75 bpm. Patient was discharged from Cardiology. An ECG and ECHO were performed at this time. Doctor approved for Iow HR alarm on oximeter to be changed from 85 bpm to 65 bpm. Feed tolerance is an ongoing issue for patient. It is not unusual to have multiple small vomits per day, especially following a cough. On NGT feeds: 7 bolus feeds per day administered via pump over (Fortified Neocate Gold). Exploring oral purees and sipping thin fluids. No issues on full enteral feeds. Previous borderline hypoglycaemia (never below 3mmoI/L) after. Allergies: Cow’s milk protein and soy. On esomeprazole. Lower GI contrast study. NAD. Client went home with tracheostomy after weaning from CPAP in hospital after prolonged hospital and initial NICU and then PICU stay. The client was 12 months old when going home. Our intensive care at home nursing team was managing the child overnight for 6 months until the child was ready for tracheostomy decannulation. Our nursing team where we employ hundreds of years of intensive care and paediatric intensive care nursing experience combined was able to transition the child home from paediatric intensive care to an intensive care at home environment without any lowering of care standards. Our clients get the same or better standards of care at home compared to an intensive care (ICU) environment, because clients can be in control of their routine and their wishes. They can sleep at night in the comfort of their own home, whereas in intensive care it’s very noisy. Also, our client’s family members also report to get some sleep at home because they know they have intensive care nurses that are comfortable with ventilation and tracheostomy... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/successful-transition-better-standards-of-care-from-pediatric-icu-to-intensive-care-at-home-for-my-toddler-with-a-tracheostomy/

https://intensivecareathome.com/quick-tip-for-families-in-icu-helping-patients-and-families-in-intensive-care-to-go-home-during-covid-19/ Helping Patients and Families in Intensive Care to Go Home During COVID-19 Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Helping Patients and Families in Intensive Care to Go Home During COVID-19! 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 patients and medically complex patients at home. In this video, I want to talk about how we can help families and patients and intensive care units to free up some much needed intensive care capacity. And I mean, there’s a shortage of intensive care beds at the moment, all around the world because of the COVID 19 pandemic. And many patients ending up in ICU on ventilators, often on ECMO, prone position, they’re ending up in prolonged induced comas, often medically paralyzed with medications and that delays and prolongs their recovery time if they survive. And that often leaves them with a tracheostomy. And there are often many weeks going by until the patients can be weaned off the ventilator. Sometimes many months go by, in some situations, patients may not be able to be weaned off the ventilator at all and they’re unable to leave intensive care. Now on top of that, you have the added-on complexity that at the moment, many intensive care units limit the number of visitors in intensive care or you can’t visit at all. It depends on local health services on their policies. It depends on Department of Health policies and so forth. But the reality is that many families in intensive care are locked out of intensive care or have very limited visitation time with their loved ones in intensive care. And that’s a dilemma in and of itself. I mean, there’s enough research out there to know that family involvement, when it comes to patients in intensive care is a desirable thing. It helps improve outcomes and so forth. But again, with the current situation many families are locked out of intensive care with limited or no visitation time. Now what does that have to do with Intensive Care at Home? Well, quite simple, once a patient is stable, but is still on a tracheostomy and ventilation, is off inotropes, is off sedatives and they’re still being weaned or there is no end in sight of the weaning. We can help them by taking them home, get them out of ICU and improve their quality of life at home. Instead of intensive care, patients can be looked after in the comfort of their own home rather than in an ICU that currently is full of COVID. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re here in Australia, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, doesn’t whether you’re in the US, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the UK. It seems to be the same all over the world. We have inquiries from all over the world for our service. And you know, what people are reporting from intensive care units is the same. They’re locked out, limited visiting times, if any, no visiting times at all, and families are more or less desperate to take their loved ones home... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/quick-tip-for-families-in-icu-helping-patients-and-families-in-intensive-care-to-go-home-during-covid-19/

https://intensivecareathome.com/icah-frequency-management-of-respiratory-incidents-in-invasive-home-ventilation/ ICAH Frequency &Management of Respiratory Incidents in Invasive Home Ventilation Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Intensive Care at Home Frequency & Management of Respiratory Incidents in Invasive Home Ventilation 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 patients and medically complex patients at home. In today’s video blog, I want to talk about frequency and management of respiratory incidents in invasive home ventilation. So for those of you that are new to Intensive Care at Home, that’s pretty much all we do all day every day. We provide specialized services at home for a long-term mechanically ventilated patients, with tracheostomy, but also if they’re ventilated non-invasively, or if they only have a tracheostomy. Now we are a third party accredited service provider. We are accredited through ISO 9001 2015 similar to hospitals. We’re also accredited for the NDIS here in Australia for the TAC, the Transport Accident Commission, and also for the DVA, the Department of Veteran Affairs. And we also provide services through hospitals directly and through private health insurances. Now, why is safety so important? Now think about it. When it comes to Intensive Care at Home, patients leave intensive care directly and they go home. Previously or prior to the existence of our service, patients from intensive care had two ways to go. One, they were going to a hospital ward or to a hospital floor, or they would die. Very limited mindsets, so we have revolutionized this area by creating a proven third pathway for intensive care patients that stay in intensive care long-term, and can’t be weaned off the ventilator and the tracheostomy. So therefore, we are replicating at home what’s being done in intensive care. We provide 24-hour intensive home care nursing with intensive care nurses with a minimum of two years’ intensive care experience. Now, are incidents happening? Yes they are, but with having 24-hour intensive home care nursing, it’s similar to an intensive care unit so we can manage all incidents at home. Now, should be a no brainer. Shouldn’t it? I mean I shouldn’t even have to say that, but the unfortunate reality is that, some intensive care units are reluctant to discharge because of safety aspects. That’s one end of the spectrum. But then on the other end of the spectrum, you have some service providers wanting to provide services for ventilated patients, with support workers, with untrained staff. They’re basically, with all due respect to the individuals, they’re basically picking staff off the streets without any formal education. And they “train them”, on ventilated patients... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/icah-frequency-management-of-respiratory-incidents-in-invasive-home-ventilation/

https://intensivecareathome.com/terminally-ill-ndis-participant-facing-re-hospitalisation-after-funding-cut-for-24-hour-nurse/ TERMINALLY ILL NDIS PARTICIPANT FACING RE-HOSPITALISATION AFTER FUNDING CUT FOR 24-HOUR ICU NURSE Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to share an article published on December 5, 2021 from “The Guardian” and this is about, Terminally ill NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) Participant Facing Re-Hospitalisation After Funding Cut for 24-hour nurse Ian Haywood’s partner is blunt when asked to sum up the couple’s latest battle with the National Disability Insurance Agency. “They don’t think it is ‘reasonable and necessary’ for Ian to have nursing funding,” Bianca* told Guardian Australia, referring to the key legal test for NDIS funding. “We think it is reasonable for him to stay home and it is necessary in order for him to live. It’s cheaper for them if he dies.” Haywood, 43, lives with the terminal illness motor neurone disease and is the latest NDIS participant to speak out about what the federal Labor party and disability advocates claim are “stealth cuts” being seen around the country. Communicating with Guardian Australia via email as he is non-verbal, Haywood said the NDIS had been funding 24-hour nurse care that allowed him to live at his home on the Mornington Peninsula rather than remaining in hospital. But when his plan was renewed for 12 months in October, he learned it would only cover six hours of care each day from a nurse. Haywood said he needed 24-hour care from a trained nurse because he cannot breathe for himself: he is mechanically ventilated via tracheostomy and needs urgent help if something goes wrong. “Usually it’s something simple like a leaking valve, a nurse with ICU experience can identify the problem and resolve it,” Haywood said. “But without a nurse I would be long dead of asphyxia before the ambulance arrived.” The funding was initially provided by the agency after he won an internal review of an earlier decision last year, Haywood said. Now, the NDIA has said it will no longer fund the same level of support. “My particular concern is that I have a ‘deadline’ of around mid-January when the nursing funding runs out, at which point in the worst case I would have to go to ICU and wait for it to be resolved,” Haywood said. During question time in parliament last week, the government was asked about several cases where participants and their families have been forced to appeal large cuts to NDIS plans. Disability advocacy organisations have also told Guardian Australia they are being swamped with requests from participants for help to appeal against the NDIA’s decisions. “It just seems so pointless to have to re-litigate the same issue [24-hour nursing care] when the need has previously been established,” Haywood said. Bianca said she had experienced nightmares during that last process. “I’d be like dreaming that he died,” she said. Haywood was diagnosed with motor neurone disease five years ago this week. Until then he’d worked as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. “Now I can’t move very much at all,” Haywood said. “I can wiggle my wrists, I can turn my head slightly, and I can blink and move my eyes. Some additional movements are still present but not under my voluntary control: for example I will smile if told a joke.” Still, Haywood said there was plenty he could do. He uses a button under his left wrist that allows him operate a computer to use the internet, watch films and read books. Last week, Haywood took part in a kitchen table Zoom meeting with the Voices of Mornington Peninsula political group. He prepared his contribution and shared it with the group when it was his turn... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/terminally-ill-ndis-participant-facing-re-hospitalisation-after-funding-cut-for-24-hour-nurse/

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-brother-is-in-icu-with-a-tracheostomy-cant-come-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-me-bring-him-home/ MY BROTHER IS IN ICU WITH A TRACHEOSTOMY& CAN’T COME OFF THE VENTILATOR. CAN YOU HELP ME BRING HIM HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare Hi Patrik, I have been following your blog and I have also seen your numerous job ads in Sydney and in Melbourne for a while. It is very encouraging to read and listen to the many subjects that you’re posting about when it comes to Intensive Care at Home. Currently, my 42-year old brother has been in intensive care in Melbourne in one of the major hospitals for the last four months. He has a tracheostomy. They organized the Passy-Muir speaking valve, which has been approved by the ENT doctors. The ENT doctors had good things to say about it, however, the speech therapist in ICU only attempted to work with him twice. He’s also now got the PEG tube because they don’t think that he will be off the ventilator anytime soon, if ever. My brother now can follow commands that I have taught him. It is my belief that if he had the therapy needed, he would come off the tracheostomy, off the ventilator and eating as well as talking. But given that, I’m not happy with what he’s getting there in ICU. I want to bring him home as quickly as possible. So what do I need to do to bring him home and who’s going to pay for it? I do hear that the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) is paying for some of your client services. Can you help us with this situation? From Carra Hi Carra, Thank you so much for writing in. So Carra, I can’t comment on what’s happening there in ICU but what I can comment on is that obviously the longer someone stays in ICU with ventilation and tracheostomy, people are getting depressed. ICUs have probably more urgent things to address, meaning, a long term patient like your brother is, may not get the attention he actually needs. He probably gets way more attention at home with a designated team, 24/7, 365 days of the year. I think that might be your next step. Yes, the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) will be paying for it. Given that your brother is 42, he will be qualifying for NDIS. And yes, you’re right, we are advertising for ICU nurses in Melbourne and in Sydney, because more and more clients want to take up our service because they want to leave intensive care, which makes a lot of sense. So the next step really is to talk to us. We can help you take the next step with the NDIS. We can help you with Specialist Support Coordination, which leads often to funding. And then, the next step is to talk to the ICU, to obviously exercise your and your brother wishes. Then we can look at, equipment at home. We can look at ventilator, suction machines, monitors, a special care bed like a hospital bed, hoist, or lifting machines at home and building a team. Now, this all takes a little bit of time, but it’s obviously absolutely doable. And also the ICU should be supporting your brother going home because it frees up their ICU bed. And it frees up some of their staff and it saves them a lot of money. As a matter of fact, it saves them about half of the cost of an intensive care bed. So it’s a win-win situation for everyone. So let me know if you have any further questions. It’s best if you reach out to me directly, call me on one of the numbers on the top of the website, or just send me an email to info@intensivecareathome.com that’s info@intensivecareathome.com and then we can go from there. Thank you so much. Continuation... https://intensivecareathome.com/my-brother-is-in-icu-with-a-tracheostomy-cant-come-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-me-bring-him-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/intensive-care-at-home-is-hiring-icu-picu-nurses-in-melbourne-metropolitan-south-gippsland-country-victoria-brisbane-wollongong-new-south-wales/ INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME IS HIRING ICU/PICU NURSES IN MELBOURNE METROPOLITANSOUTH GIPPSLAND& BRISBANE Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare Today’s blog is for ICU nurses and Pediatric ICU nurses, because here at Intensive Care at Home, we are hiring you. INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME IS HIRING ICU/PICU NURSES IN MELBOURNE METROPOLITAN, SOUTH GIPPSLAND, COUNTRY VICTORIA, BRISBANE, WOLLONGONG, NEW SOUTH WALES. In today’s blog post, I want to focus on ICU nurses and pediatric ICU nurses that want to work for us because we have vacancies across the border for many of our clients predominantly in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, but also in South Gippsland and Country Victoria, but also in Brisbane and also in Wollongong New South Wales. If you are an intensive care nurse with a minimum of 2 years ICU experience or a pediatric intensive care nurse with a minimum of 2 years ICU experience, and ideally with a post graduate critical care qualification, we would be very interested in your application. And, more importantly, if you are interested in taking your ICU nursing skills out of a busy ICU into a home care environment, and you think that is an environment that you’d be interested in and that you think you can make a difference, then you’ve come to the right place. We are basically sending intensive care nurses and pediatric intensive care nurses into the home to continue intensive care treatment at home for predominantly ventilated adults and children with tracheostomy. And if that’s of interest for you to use your ICU nursing skills in that environment, then you’ve come to the right place. Get out of a busy ICU, where at the moment with COVID, you don’t even have a one to one nurse to patient ratio guaranteed. Well, we guarantee a one to one nurse to patient ratio. Most of the time, you also have a support worker there that will help you with your tasks. So the environment is actually much better supported than in ICU, where at the moment you don’t even have one to one nurse to patient ratio. And if you like variety to work with, different clients in different locations, or if you just want to work closer to home, we have all options available for you. Our clients are quite diverse but what they all have in common is that they do need an intensive care nurse at home predominantly 24 hours a day. Again, our range of services range from ventilation, tracheostomy, but also we have some medically complex patients at home that are not even ventilated, but still need an intensive care nurse, 24 hours a day because otherwise they would be in intensive care and because of the risk of going back to intensive care. Other services we provide for example, is home TPN. And so patients go home a Hickman’s line or a PICC line or a central line and have TPN at home instead of a hospital. So we really make a big difference to our clients and their family’s lives by staying at home predictably, despite their condition. Now, if you are interested in working for us, you’ll be joining a very, dynamic nursing team, but also a very dynamic admin team that is constantly on the go to make the lives for our clients and their families, a better environment. And that’s what it’s all about. We want to help our clients live their lives, where they want to be and where they should be. They should not be in intensive care. They should be at home whenever possible. And that is what we are providing here at Intensive Care at Home... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/intensive-care-at-home-is-hiring-icu-picu-nurses-in-melbourne-metropolitan-south-gippsland-country-victoria-brisbane-wollongong-new-south-wales/

https://intensivecareathome.com/whats-it-like-to-work-for-intensive-care-at-home/ What’s it like to work for INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s video blog, I want to talk to intensive care nurses because we get a lot of questions such as, What’s it Like to Work for Intensive Care at Home? Now, first off, I know the last years have been incredibly difficult with the pandemic, whether it’s been in ICU, it’s probably the worst it’s ever been, but it’s also been certainly challenging on our end, as the demand for our service has grown and gone through the roof, because simply nobody wants to be in intensive care, and people want to be at home, instead, which makes perfect sense. Nobody wanted to be in intensive care before COVID, let alone in the last two years, given the vulnerability, or the high levels of vulnerability and the high levels of complexity for our clients, they would be highly susceptible to catching COVID in ICU. Therefore, they all want to stay at home at all costs. That’s what our mission here, at Intensive Care at Home, is to provide a genuine alternative for long-term intensive care patients, predominantly, long term ventilated intensive care patients with tracheostomies, adults and children. That obviously requires us to provide these services with intensive care nurses with a minimum of two years ICU experience, ideally with a post-graduate critical care qualification. Again, we get lots of questions. What is it like to work for Intensive Care at Home as a critical care nurse? I want to dive a little bit deeper into that topic today, because I know a lot of intensive care nurses are looking for jobs at the moment because they are burnt out, because the last few in hospitals, nurse to patient ratios in intensive care prior to the pandemic were almost guaranteed a one to one nurse to patient ratio. For some HDU, or high dependency unit patients, you would’ve had a one to two nurse to patient ratio, but that has eroded in the last two years because obviously ICUs got flooded with COVID patients, and therefore, there was also an erosion of nursing care standards. It was no longer a one to one in many units because of lack of staff because they got flooded with COVID patients, and other patients, of course, that needed intensive care. Therefore, the workload was just simply going through the roof. Now, whilst our workload has gone through the roof as well, at least here we can guarantee a one to one nurse to patient ratio because it’s in a patient’s home. It’s in a client’s home, and we are not in a hospital. Our mission is to keep clients at home. It’s always a one to one. Now, you might also be wondering, what’s the support? The support in a home care environment is predominantly that there is a support worker working with you, like a Disability Support Worker, or a carer that’s working with you to support whatever needs to be done with a particular client, whether it’s mobilization, whether it’s going out with them, whatever the case may be. But, it’s a guaranteed one to one, and with additional help... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/whats-it-like-to-work-for-intensive-care-at-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/queensland-mum-with-motor-neurone-disease-denied-life-prolonging-surgery/ QUEENSLAND MUM WITH MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE DENIED ‘LIFE-PROLONGING’ SURGERY Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare So in today’s blog post, we want to elaborate on the ABC article from earlier in 2021, “Queensland mum with motor neurone disease denied life-prolonging surgery.” Now, for anyone that doesn’t know what life-prolonging surgery means in a situation where a patient has motor neurone disease, it quite frankly, refers to a tracheostomy. And a tracheostomy for a motor neurone disease patient, simply is life prolonging. Now the most prominent figure that everybody knows is Professor Stephen Hawking that lived with motor neurone disease for decades with the tracheostomy. And he had much to contribute to society, much to contribute to science. And he lived a good quality of life, I think until his mid-seventies, until he passed away. Now here at Intensive Care at Home, we are looking after clients at home with motor neurone disease. And some of those clients have a very good quality of life. They also contribute to their family’s lives. They contribute to science. They contribute to some of their employers and they live an incredible quality of life because of the lifesaving surgery, hence, a tracheostomy. Now, who is anyone in this world to say, who should have a tracheostomy, and who shouldn’t. This is up to the individual to make that choice. Because in this day and age with Intensive Care at Home services, patients don’t need to live in intensive care. They can have a tracheostomy even if they stay on the ventilator for the rest of their lives, and they can go home with services like Intensive Care at Home, and it’s up to the individual to make that choice. And it’s not up to intensive care professionals or anyone because the services are there. The choice is there. And the funding is there as well, especially here in Australia with the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the NDIS. But also hospitals can pay for it too, because it saves half of the cost of an intensive care bed if hospitals do a tracheostomy, get patients out of intensive care quicker, instead of letting patients die. End of life is a choice that people need to make themselves and not based on perceived resources, the resources are there, and it’s up to the individual to use Intensive Care at Home and go home instead of staying in intensive care with the tracheostomy, if they have motor neurone disease. Here is the article I want to share from the ABC News posted on 18 Aug 2021, “Queensland Mum with Motor Neurone Disease Denied ‘Life-Prolonging’ Surgery” Queensland mother Gabriel Watkin says she has been denied “life-prolonging” surgery in her fight to live with motor neurone disease. Day by day her lungs are weakening, so 53-year-old Ms. Watkin becomes more reliant on an oxygen mask to breathe. But a tracheostomy, she said, would allow her to breathe and live for longer through a tube inserted into her trachea. “They’re taking away the right to extend my life,” Ms. Watkin said. “Each day my lung capacity is reducing and my body’s ability to handle the life-prolonging surgery is decreasing.” Ms. Watkin said the tracheostomy would also mean she could use her eye gazing technology to communicate. Currently, she cannot wear her glasses with non-invasive ventilation, which stops her from speaking, emailing, using the internet, reading books, and staying connected with her friends and family... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/queensland-mum-with-motor-neurone-disease-denied-life-prolonging-surgery/

https://intensivecareathome.com/questions-answered-about-home-tpn-total-parenteral-nutrition/ QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT HOME TPN (TOTAL PARENTERAL NUTRITION) Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Questions Answered About Home TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) So in today’s blog post, I want to focus on home TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) because we’re having quite a few inquiries about home TPN lately. And a lot of those inquiries, unfortunately, families come to us and they say, “Look, my loved one, my family member is in the hospital. They are on TPN and the hospital is telling us that their loved one can’t go home unless TPN has been stopped.” Now, nothing could be further from the truth, with our service, Intensive Care at Home, TPN can be given at home. And we have looked after many clients now at home on TPN, and we currently have clients at home on TPN. The prerequisite obviously is to have a central line, Hickman’s line or a PICC line, and obviously a prescribing doctor that prescribes the TPN, add-ons like Cernevit or sometimes like other electrolytes that can be added on depending on a client’s needs. Ideally you have a nutritional team overseeing the TPN therapy at home from a hospital, but at the end of the day, with our critical care nurses, we can supply the nurses for home TPN, whether that’s for 24 hours a day TPN, whether it’s for multiple times a week, it really doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, what you need is our skill or the skill of a critical care nurse to hook up the TPN, manage the central line. The same is applicable for IV fluids, but I I’ll discuss that in a separate blog post at some point. And then off you go, no need to stay in hospital. The funding side of things, if you are in Australia and if you are below the age of 65, you qualify for the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) and you should contact us if you have any questions around that. We can help you with getting funding through the NDIS. If you’re above 65 years of age, the hospitals may pay for it. There could be other funding schemes that you should access. Again, you should be contacting us. There could be private health insurance. If you have that, that might be paying for it. So again, you should definitely contact us. But I want to keep this brief today, but the essence is home TPN. It’s definitely possible. We’ve shown it many, many times now. And what you need as well is, you need to have a company that’s supplying you with TPN bags. That could be Baxter. It could be Fresenius. Not that I endorse one over the other, but those are two of the companies that can supply TPN bags at home. Other options might be to talk to your local pharmacy or talk to the hospital pharmacy. They might be able to supply you with TPN as well, but again, we can help you with the supply of TPN bags as well. So don’t let the hospital discourage you and say, you can’t go home whilst you are on TPN or while your loved one is on TPN. Contact us here at Intensive Care at Home, and we’ll help you to take you home. Take care for now... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/questions-answered-about-home-tpn-total-parenteral-nutrition/

https://intensivecareathome.com/forcing-my-dad-out-of-icu-with-tracheostomy-can-he-go-home-instead/ Forcing My Dad Out of ICU with Tracheostomy, Can He Go Home Instead? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline Song: Jarico - Island Music supported by@FreeBackgroundMusicForCreators #BackgroundMusicWithoutLimitations https://bit.ly/2XoXFnb #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare 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 adults and children with tracheostomies, medically complex patients at home including Home TPN, Home IV potassium infusions, Home BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), Home CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) ventilation as well as IV antibiotics. We are also providing services for adults and children at home with tracheostomies that are not ventilator- dependent. We also provide port management, central line management, PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line management as well as Hickman’s line management, as well as palliative care. Now, in today’s blog, I want to answer a question from one of our readers who says, Hi Patrik, They are forcing my dad out of ICU with the tracheostomy. Is this safe? Well, that’s a great question and that is from Anne Marie. And Anne Marie, that is a great question and I argue it’s not safe. It’s sort of what hospitals do. It’s the one size fits all and we know that people are different and people don’t fit a one size fits all profile and hospitals have created pathways for people that often don’t work, and that have shown not to work. So, if you are sick of being in hospital with your dad, you should be looking at Intensive Care at Home. I tell you why it’s not safe going from ICU to a hospital ward or a hospital floor. It’s quite frankly, on a hospital ward or on a hospital floor, he will end up in a bed and he won’t have the ICU nurse that he inevitably needs with the tracheostomy. He’ll end up on a nurse to patient ratio of 1:5, maybe 1:10, even, definitely 1:10 overnight. It’s probably going to be very unsafe very quickly. And here is the evidence for why I am saying that, if you look on our website at intensivecareathome.com, you will find a section that the Mechanical Home Ventilation Guidelines, which are evidence-based. In the mechanical home ventilation guidelines, you will find that when patients go home with the tracheostomy, they need to have 1:1 nurse to patient ratio with critical care nurses 24 hours a day. And those critical care nurses need to have a minimum of two years’ critical care nursing experience. And I can tell you that you won’t get that on the hospital ward or on the hospital floor with the tracheostomy therefore, it is like you said, they are forcing your dad out without providing evidence-based care. And the reality is that people have died because of no critical care nurse is looking after tracheostomy clients. And this is exactly what’s happening here. Case in point, we have had clients at home with the tracheostomy and or ventilation, that needed 24-hour nursing care with critical care nurses with a minimum of two years, critical care nursing experience as documented and evidenced in the mechanical home ventilation guidelines and they died during times when critical care nurses were not present due to lack of funding. So for example, we looked after clients at home that were only funded for critical care nurses overnight, but weren’t funded during the day and then family members or support workers, that with all respect might have worked in the supermarket last week. Now all of a sudden look after an ICU patient with the difference that they’re at home. And of course, that’s a disaster waiting to happen. Continuation... https://intensivecareathome.com/forcing-my-dad-out-of-icu-with-tracheostomy-can-he-go-home-instead/

https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-service-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-my-wife-to-wean-off-the-ventilator-at-home/ CAN YOUR SERVICE AT INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME HELP MY WIFE TO WEAN OFF THE VENTILATOR AT HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Can Your Service at Intensive Care at Home Help My Wife to Wean Off the Ventilator at Home? Hi Patrik, My wife is getting close to being “kicked out of ICU”. She’s still slowly weaning using pressure support of around 10 for 10 hours/day, and 8 for a couple of more hours and the other time, she is off the ventilator. Scleroderma makes her chest muscles weaker than a normal person and so weaning is more difficult. Her lungs are great at oxygen exchange. She is close to 100% on the pulse oximeter all the time. The ICU is suggesting that she either accepts that she will always be on a ventilator, set at fixed at some level, ie. the CPAP or the pressure support or the other option is palliative care. I haven’t had a great deal of time to make phone calls and check on other options, but I have found your website very helpful, and I’m thinking of taking her home and weaning her at home. The problem for me is the cost. I think my wife is only 47, and I’m not sure how to get her out of ICU financing it. We are in Sydney, Australia. How can I afford weaning her at home? I look forward to your advice. From Len Hi Len, I’m very sorry to hear about your wife’s situation, but I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. There’s no need for palliative care for your wife. She can go home with our service Intensive Care at Home. We can do the weaning at home. If it’s possible at all, we need to know more about the clinical situation. I need to find out what stops her from getting off the pressure support and why can’t she be off the ventilator for more than six hours a day. In terms of cost, you should be looking at the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS provides funding for patients on ventilation with tracheostomy. Most of our clients get funding through the NDIS. They get funding through other avenues as well, but predominantly the NDIS. So you should contact us to take the next steps. We also provide NDIS specialist support coordination, which is something you and your wife will need, and that will help you with funding. And then obviously once the funding is there, we can help you with nursing care. The trouble is that ICUs really have no idea that the NDIS can actually help them manage their beds. Most ICUs have no idea what’s happening in the environment. They’re so focused on their day to day looking after patients, which is fair enough. But yeah, the NDIS is a good scheme now and can help many patients in ICU to go home even though they’re ventilated with a tracheostomy. And again, we can help you with a specialist support coordination. You should definitely contact us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or send an email to info@intensivecareathome.com. I hope that helps Len. Give me a call and then we can take the next steps from there. Thank you... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-service-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-my-wife-to-wean-off-the-ventilator-at-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/what-can-intensive-care-at-home-offer-my-57-year-old-mom-with-tracheostomy/ WHAT CAN INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME OFFER MY 57-YEAR OLD MOM WITH TRACHEOSTOMY? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is What Can Intensive Care at Home Offer my 57-year old Mom with Tracheostomy? Hi Patrik, My mom has been in intensive care now for two weeks and she has gone into ICU with COVID pneumonia. And she’s on high oxygen levels and on high PEEP. And we are at day 14 today. The palliative care doctor wants a decision by myself and my family within the next few days, whether we should be ending her life because she’s saying, “Well, she won’t have any quality of life even if she will survive it and she will be disabled. And she will need help for the rest of her life if she does survive this ICU stay.” Or the other option they’re giving us if we want to consent to tracheostomy instead, once her FIO2 and PEEP has come down eventually, but they’re not sure whether that can be achieved or not. The palliative care doctor had not inquired with ICU doctor to inquire if the tracheostomy would be temporary, and also if she needs dialysis in the long term, because at the moment she’s on dialysis or she has been on dialysis for the last few days. Thank you very much for the services that you offer. We are wondering that if she has a tracheostomy, what Intensive Care at Home could offer for her. We are in Sydney, Australia. My mom is only 57. What are our options? From Drew Hi Drew, Thank you so much for your question. I’m very sorry to hear about your mom’s situation. Now, at such a young age at 57 years of age, the palliative care doctor should not be talking about palliative care, but to rather consult with the intensive care team, what to do next in order to save your mom’s life. She may not have any quality of life going forward, or may not have any perceived quality of life going forward, but nobody knows and nobody has a crystal ball. And ICUs and palliative care are very poor at predicting what life looks like outside of intensive care once people survive. Furthermore, ICUs especially at the moment are still under high pressure, i.e. if they end your mom’s life, they can empty in bed that they have very high demand for. So you should be asking all the right questions in order to make the right decision for your mom. Once she has a tracheostomy, then you can absolutely look at home care if she can’t come off the ventilator, especially if she’s 57, she will qualify for the NDIS. And the NDIS will fund home care for ventilation and tracheostomy assuming your mom can’t come off the ventilator and tracheostomy in hospital for whatever reason. So the options are definitely there. You should definitely buy some time there. Ask them to continue treatment, clear the pneumonia, hopefully, and then once the pneumonia is cleared and her FIO2 and PEEP has come down, then look at the tracheostomy. Hopefully she can take the next steps and then if she can’t come off the ventilator in ICU, can’t come off the tracheostomy, then you should absolutely look at Intensive Care at Home. And you’re doing the ICU a favor there as well by helping them to empty their ICU bed. But now when it comes to the NDIS, you will need to obviously apply there to become a participant for your mom, but we can help you with that. You should reach out to us so we can help you with the next steps. We also provide specialist support coordination under the NDIS, that can help you with the funding. So please contact us at your earliest convenience. Just go to our website, intensivecareathome.com and call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or send us an email to info@intensivecareathome.com... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/what-can-intensive-care-at-home-offer-my-57-year-old-mom-with-tracheostomy/

https://intensivecareathome.com/addressing-icu-nurses/ Addressing ICU Nurses in Melbourne! Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, it is directed at intensive care nurses, specifically in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, but also country Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Addressing ICU Nurses in Melbourne Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com with another quick video blog. Now today’s question is about when is it time to leave ICU nursing and go into the community? Now, this video blog today is different to what we normally do. Normally, I answer questions for families in intensive care, but this video today is directed at intensive care nurses, specifically in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, but also country Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. So when is it time to leave intensive care nursing and go into the community? Well, the time is now because as you would’ve all seen Intensive Care at Home is expanding. It’s a new form of intensive care nursing. It’s a very exciting branch of intensive care nursing far away from the hustle and bustle of intensive care. And if you’re ready for a change, you should absolutely look at Intensive Care at Home as a new career opportunity. As we all know in intensive care nursing in the last two years have been horrible in ICUs and work conditions for intensive care nurses have deteriorated. Nurse to patient ratios have deteriorated despite the unions rhetoric, at the end of the day, the unions did nothing to stop that deterioration. And it’s just shocking to see. Now on the contrary, look at Intensive Care at Home, we guarantee a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio because we bring the intensive care into the home. You can’t double up patients in Intensive Care at Home. You can’t just send ward nurse to someone at home. We guarantee the one-on-one nurse to patient ratio with Intensive Care at Home because that’s what our clients need and want. And there’s also most of the time, a support worker there to support you. So now is the time to look at community nursing with Intensive Care at Home. If you are an intensive care nurse with a minimum of two years ICU experience and ideally a post-graduate critical care qualification, we have exciting opportunities. We’re also looking for a nurse manager. We’re looking for a clinical liaison nurse, and now it’s really the time to look for a career change in 2022. Leave intensive care and, look at working conditions with Intensive Care at Home that are more stable, more sustainable and not have working conditions deteriorate such as it happened in ICU in the last two years. So go and check out our career section at intensivecareathome.com or simply send me an email to info@intensivecareathome.com. Or you can also call me on 0410942230. This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecareathome.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days. Take care... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/addressing-icu-nurses/

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-52-year-old-brother-is-stuck-in-the-icu-the-hospital-does-not-want-to-help-anymore-with-weaning-him-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-us-in-taking-him-home/ MY 52-YR OLD BROTHER'S STUCK IN ICU& ICU IS NO HELP WEANING HIM OFF VENTILATION. CAN HE GO HOME? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is My 52-year old Brother is Stuck in the ICU & the Hospital Does Not Want to Help Anymore with Weaning Him Off the Ventilator. Can You Help Us in Taking Him Home? Hi Patrik, My brother is 52 years of age, the only medical problem he had was chronic heart failure and mild COPD. Five months ago, he had sepsis and the ICU doctors didn’t want to treat him. There was a delay in providing proper care and that cause him to have a respiratory infection and a crash and he ended up on a ventilator eventually with the tracheostomy. Now he’s on the ventilator with the tracheostomy in a spontaneous breathing mode, but he can’t be weaned off the ventilator at all. He might have a few minutes off the ventilator, but he’s really struggling to keep it off for longer periods of time. Therefore, he’s stuck in ICU at the moment and the hospital doesn’t want to help him anymore with weaning him off the ventilator and they want to stop treatment. Given that he’s only 52, we want to take him home. Instead, our goal is to remove the tracheostomy and getting him off the ventilator. Can you help us in taking him home? Thank you so much. From Marin. Hi Marin, Well, Marin, this is quite a common problem that we see across the board. Unfortunately, ICUs don’t want to continue treating. They need the ICU bed, but rather than looking at taking patients home with Intensive Care at Home, they want to stop treating. And unfortunately that’s the first step to end of life. And that’s where we can help you to take your brother home and continue treatment there. Now, I wouldn’t know, at this particular point in time, whether he’s able to come off the ventilator or not, you haven’t shared enough information, but you know, in any case, if he’s been in ICU for five months now, it’s time for him to go home. He is probably depressed. He’s probably in a COVID infested intensive care unit. He’s depressed. He’s got no quality of life and it’s time for him to go home and set it up properly at home. So the next step really is to give me a call and we can look into your situation. You are saying that you are in Sydney, Australia. You would be aware that at the age of 52, your brother would qualify for the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). And I think we should have a chat about the funding about Specialist Support Coordination, which we can help you with. I should say Specialist NDIS Support Coordination, where we can help you with. And then set up the funding, set up the team, set up equipment, talk to the ICU, making sure you get the right support at home for your brother, improving his quality of life. Making sure he’s out of an ICU where the ICU is full of COVID. And at home, there is no COVID, it’s a much safer environment, less infection risk, more quality of life. And you as a family, don’t have to go into ICU all the time. And again, you’ll be much safer off with not having COVID. So I hope that helps. Let me know if there’s anything else you need, but I think the next step is for us to talk to you, talk to the ICU and take the next steps from there. Thank you so much... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/my-52-year-old-brother-is-stuck-in-the-icu-the-hospital-does-not-want-to-help-anymore-with-weaning-him-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-us-in-taking-him-home/

https://intensivecareathome.com/what-is-it-like-to-work-for-intensive-care-at-home-for-intensive-care-nurses-and-pediatric-intensive-care-nurses/ WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK FOR INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME FOR ICU NURSES AND PEDIATRIC ICU NURSES? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare Now in today’s blog post, I want to continue where I finished off last week. Last week’s blog post, I talked about that we are hiring Intensive Care nurses and Pediatric Intensive Care nurses here at Intensive Care at Home. And today, I want to talk about What Is It Like to Work for Intensive Care at Home for Intensive Care Nurses and Pediatric Intensive Care Nurses? So, I want to focus on our intensive care nurses and pediatric intensive care nurses that come to us and because they want to know, what is it like to work for Intensive Care at Home? Is it similar to working in ICU? They have all these questions piling up and I thought I’ll make a quick video about it, so hopefully to give you an insight, what is it like to work for us. So, it’s probably fairly different compared to what you’re used to in intensive care. And the reason for that is simply, that a home care environment is very different. Yes, we do need your ICU and pediatric ICU nursing skills. No question about that. Most of our clients are at home on a ventilator with a tracheostomy after all. And as we all know, only intensive care nurses with a minimum of two years ICU experience can look after those patients safely, especially in a home care environment where there are fewer resources around and fewer staff around compared to an ICU setting. But everything else is actually very different because you are in a family environment. You are in an environment that is highly, highly sensitive because obviously our clients and their families have high expectations. They want to make sure that you are the right fit for their home environment. They will test you quite frankly. They want to see whether you are the right fit, not only clinically, but also on a social and family level. Are you fitting in with the family dynamics and so forth? Those are really important points. One thing that I underestimated for a long time is really, that it’s quite a big deal for the families having somebody new coming into their home. As much as the families need us, and they need you and your skills, the next biggest question for them is, are you the right fit for them and for their family environment? So, that is one of the major differences compared to ICU, because, in ICU you get allocated to a particular patient and then you do your shift and then when you’re back the next day, you might not even see that patient again. Whereas in our environment, it’s all about repetition, it’s all about familiarity. Families want to know that if you sign up with us and if you are successful with us, that you are committed to the care you are giving to a particular client. They want to build a relationship with you. Most of our clients that we worked with, we have worked with for many years now, and we certainly have built strong relationships with them. That’s a result of having strong relationships between the families and the nurses that are working with those clients. But just like with anything else, we also want to give you variety, which means, you could work with more than one client. Some of it depends on location of course. How far away are you from a particular client? That’s all coming into play... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/what-is-it-like-to-work-for-intensive-care-at-home-for-intensive-care-nurses-and-pediatric-intensive-care-nurses/

https://intensivecareathome.com/does-intensive-care-at-home-take-intubated-patients/#:~:text=If%20they%20can't%20wean,reasons%20that%20I%20just%20mentioned. DOES INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME TAKE INTUBATED PATIENTS? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is “Does Intensive Care at Home Take Intubated Patients?” So this is a question we get quite frequently, whether at Intensive Care at Home, we take intubated patients, which means are we taking patients on a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube home? The short version to that question is no. However, there is one exception to that rule. Let me just explain to you why we don’t take intubated patients. An intubated patient belongs into intensive care at this particular point in time. They are too critically ill and also it’s not considered a stable airway, a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube. If the breathing tube or an endotracheal comes out, for whatever reason it takes reintubation by a doctor. Whereas if a tracheostomy falls out at home, it can be reinserted by one of our critical care nurses. Now that is the shorter version to that question. There’s other reasons as well, why we don’t take intubated patients. Often intubated patients are on multiple doses of inotropes or vasopressors. They’re often in an induced coma and also intubation should be considered as a short term measure in ICU. It should not be a long term measure or long term treatment in ICU. Whereas if someone has a tracheostomy, it is often considered long term and many patients have a tracheostomy and ventilation long term, and that’s absolutely why they’re the right fit for us for Intensive Care at Home if they can’t be weaned off the ventilator. For someone on a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube, their goal should be to be weaned off the ventilator full stop. If they can’t wean off the ventilator and they need a tracheostomy, and then again, they can’t be weaned off the ventilator for whatever reason. Yes. Then they’re absolutely a candidate for Intensive Care at Home, but intubated patients, it’s just they belong into ICU for the reasons that I just mentioned. Now, there is one exception to that rule and we have done that on a couple of occasions, we do take intubated patients home for what’s considered a one-way extubation and I have made blog posts about that about one-way extubations at home. So for example, if a patient in ICU is on a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube and is considered to be a one-way extubation for palliative care, we have done that at home where we take a patient home and do remove the breathing tube at home so they can have end of life care at home. We have done that. And if your loved one is in that situation, you should definitely contact us and consider it as an option. Thank you so much for tuning into this week’s blog. If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Go to intensivecareathome.com, call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website, or send us an email to info@ntensivecareathome.com, that’s info@intensivecareathome.com. Thank you. Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/does-intensive-care-at-home-take-intubated-patients/#:~:text=If%20they%20can't%20wean,reasons%20that%20I%20just%20mentioned.

https://intensivecareathome.com/quick-tip-for-families-in-intensive-care-can-my-wife-be-weaned-off-the-tracheostomy-in-icu/ Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Can My Wife be Weaned Off the Tracheostomy in ICU? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Can my Wife be Weaned off the Tracheostomy in ICU? Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensive Care at Home with another quick tip for families in intensive care and for families outside of intensive care. It’s a tip for anyone that’s dealing with a ventilator and a tracheostomy, and is in need of intensive care or Intensive Care at Home. So I’ve got a question today from Peter who asks, “Is it possible for my wife to be weaned off the tracheostomy in ICU?” Now, what a great question to ask Peter. And I guess preceding that question is really before your wife can be weaned off the tracheostomy, she needs to be weaned off the ventilator. Now, either can be done in ICU, but neither might be able to be done in ICU. So it really depends on your wife’s situation. It’s sort of a very relevant question, but to a degree, it’s also a very broad question because it really depends on, why your wife had a tracheostomy? Why she had a ventilator? What’s stopping her from coming off the tracheostomy at the moment? Can she not swallow? Is she at risk of aspiration? Did she have a stroke? It really depends on your wife’s unique situation. So there are a number of questions that need to be answered. But even if she can’t be weaned off the ventilator, you should be looking at Intensive Care at Home where we can help you take your wife home with a tracheostomy and she can be weaned off the tracheostomy at home. And if she can’t be weaned off the tracheostomy in ICU or at home, she can have 24-hour nursing care at home, which are the recommendations from the mechanical home ventilation guidelines. Those guidelines are researched and evidence-based that anybody leaving intensive care with a ventilator and or tracheostomy needs to be looked after by an intensive care nurse with a minimum of two years’ intensive care experience at home. And then it’s actually safe. Unfortunately, we have seen clients pass away in the community with the tracheostomy/ventilator, where we were only doing night shifts and we were only funded for night shifts. And unfortunately, clients passed away during the day because families and support workers just simply couldn’t manage medical emergency. That’s how serious it is. But we can help you with all of that. And we can make sure that the funding is there for you. We are cutting the cost of an intensive care bed by about 50%. We’re providing much better quality of life for clients at home compared to an intensive care stay. And we can help you with that. If you are in Australia, you should contact us also for NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) funding. We also have our own NDIS specialist support coordinator. You should contact us at intensivecareathome.com, call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website, or simply send us an email to info@intensivecareathome.com. Like this video, comment below what questions and insights you have and what you want to see next. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates for families in intensive care and click the notification bell. If you want a medical record review, click on the link for medical record review. Also check out our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. This is Patrik Hutzel from Intensive Care at Home, and I will talk to you in a few days. Take care. Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/quick-tip-for-families-in-intensive-care-can-my-wife-be-weaned-off-the-tracheostomy-in-icu/

https://intensivecareathome.com/can-intensive-care-at-home-be-used-for-long-term-ventilated-children-with-tracheostomy/ CAN INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME BE USED FOR LONG-TERM VENTILATED CHILDREN WITH TRACHEOSTOMY? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review , click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcaremedicine In today’s blog post, I want to answer a question from one of our clients and the question today is Can Intensive Care at Home Be Used for Long-Term Ventilated Children with Tracheostomy? So, this is a question we get quite frequently, “Can Intensive Care at Home be used for long-term ventilated children with tracheostomy?” And the short answer is, absolutely yes. We have looked after many long-term ventilated children with tracheostomy at home. Sometimes the children that we are looking after are not having a tracheostomy and they’re just on BIPAP or CPAP ventilation. Sometimes the children that we are looking after are not ventilated at all, but they still need an intensive care nurse, 24 hours a day, because otherwise they would be at high risk of going back to ICU, they have high medical needs. So, examples for children that are not ventilated at all and don’t have a tracheostomy would be for conditions like Rett syndrome, cerebral palsy, sometimes spinal muscular atrophy, but then those kids often have a cough assist device. They have secretions that need to be suctioned. They have seizures that need to be managed for kids with neurological conditions. Now, when it comes to long-term ventilated children with tracheostomy, we can shorten the ICU stay significantly by getting those kids home with 24-hour ICU nurses. Pretty much continuing what happens in ICU, at home, and helping families and their children to go home much quicker. Nobody wants to be in ICU. Keep in mind, especially with COVID still being rampant, you want to shorten your stay in ICU as much as possible. Other children we looked after at home are children that are not ventilated but are having tracheostomy and we’ve successfully decannulated children at home. They just needed a little bit of extra time at home before they were able to be decannulated. That often happens with premature babies, and they have lung disease, and they end up with a tracheostomy temporarily. And we’ve certainly helped those kids to maximize their quality of life at home rather than in ICU before they’ve been decannulated and having the tracheostomy removed. Other children that we looked after at home include children under palliative care. We helped facilitate palliative care at home for children with tracheostomies. We’ve even done a one-way extubation at home for a toddler. Again, much better place than doing a one-way extubation in intensive care. It’s what families want, and we can certainly facilitate that with Intensive Care at Home as well. Just honing in again on long-term ventilated children with tracheostomies. Again, we’ve taken kids home from ICU with C1 spinal injury, but also after other respiratory or cardiac conditions where kids simply couldn’t be weaned off the ventilator. And we have facilitated a much better quality of life at home with 24-hour intensive care nursing instead of hospital intensive care. Now, if you look at our Home Mechanical Ventilation Guidelines that are evidence-based, it’s crystal clear that under those guidelines are the evidence and research-based with ICU nurses, 24 hours a day, and those nurses have a minimum of two years intensive care nursing experience. You can actually continue intensive care in the home, it’s safe, it’s sustainable. It frees up an ICU bed, it cuts the cost of an ICU bed by around 50%, it creates an ICU bed for other admissions into ICU, and most importantly, it creates quality of life for children and their families at home that are no longer stuck in a depressing intensive care units... Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/can-intensive-care-at-home-be-used-for-long-term-ventilated-children-with-tracheostomy/

https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-service-at-intensivecare-at-home-continue-the-weaning-process-of-getting-my-brother-off-the-ventilator/ CAN YOUR SERVICE AT INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME CONTINUE THE WEANING PROCESS OF GETTING MY BROTHER OFF THE VENTILATOR? Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review , click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare Hi Patrik, My 58-year-old brother has been in intensive care for 6 months now. Initially, he went into ICU with a community acquired pneumonia. He ended up ventilated, couldn’t be weaned off the ventilator initially because he had recurring pleural effusions and he ended up with recurring chest drains. Now, that is still ongoing to this very day because he couldn’t come off the ventilator. He had a tracheostomy after a few weeks in ICU. And now he’s still struggling with the pleural effusions that prevents him from coming off the ventilator. Now, as I said, he’s been in ICU now for six months. He has time off the ventilator now for about eight hours a day. He is getting mobilized every day, sitting in a chair. He’s definitely making progress, but there still seems to be a psychological dependency for him to get off the ventilator. And he therefore is very depressed, and we just don’t think that in the ICU, he can make any further progress. Now, my question is, can your service, Intensive Care at Home, take him home, continue the weaning process at home? Can he go home with the chest drain? Those are the questions that I have. Who would be paying for it? We are in Sydney, Australia. Thank you very much. From Valerie Hi Valerie, Thank you so much for your question and it ties right in with the livestream that I did on YouTube last week, where I was talking about, “Can my mom be weaned off the ventilator and the tracheostomy at home instead of ICU?” And it ties right in with that. And I do believe your brother is the perfect candidate for going home on a ventilator with the tracheostomy because he’s been in ICU for so long, he’s now slowly making progress. Can he go home with a chest drain? Yes, I think he can go home with a chest drain. We could potentially remove the chest drain at home. We could also then do a follow up with the chest x-ray at home. There are x-rays services at home now, so I think that’s all doable. In terms of who will be paying for it. Well, the people who will be paying for it are the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). Your brother is less than 65 years of age, and he can go home with the NDIS. The NDIS will be paying for it. We also provide specialist support coordination here at Intensive Care at Home, and we can help you arrange that with our specialist support coordinator and with the NDIS. I hope that helps. Best next step is for you to contact me on one of the numbers on the top of our website, but this is definitely right up our alley. Your brother can definitely go home with our service Intensive Care at Home. It creates a win-win situation. It frees up an ICU bed, it gives you what you and your family want, because you want him at home. It saves the hospital money, and it frees up the in demand ICU bed, that is in high demand. It’s a win-win situation overall and we go from there. Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care and you want to go home with our service Intensive Care at Home and if you want to find out how to get funding for our service and how it all works, please contact us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or send me an email to Patrik@intensivecareathome.com. That’s Patrik, just with a K at the end. Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/can-your-service-at-intensivecare-at-home-continue-the-weaning-process-of-getting-my-brother-off-the-ventilator/

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-dad-is-on-a-ventilator-for-3-months-is-suffering-from-a-major-depression-here-in-icu-can-your-service-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-bring-him-home/ MY DAD IS ON A VENTILATOR FOR 3 MONTHS & IS SUFFERING FROM A MAJOR DEPRESSION HERE IN ICU. CAN YOUR SERVICE AT INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME HELP US BRING HIM HOME? Book your free 15 minute phone consultation here http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/ Call directly 24/7 +1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada +44 118 324 3018 UK +6141 094 2230 Australia Email support@intensivecarehotline.com Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy 1:1 phone counselling http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/ Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/ Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/ https://intensivecareathome.com And if you need a medical record review , click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU. https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline #icu #intensivecare #criticalcare Hi Patrik, I am in Melbourne Australia. I’m in the process of gathering more information regarding at home ventilator care and weaning. My father is 71 and currently in an ICU in Melbourne. He has been in the ICU and on a ventilator for about three months. He is stable and has begun the weaning process. So we are discussing the next steps for him. However, he’s only been able to wean for a couple of days, and then he went back into controlled mode and it seems to be really slow. He is at times tolerating CPAP settings, and sometimes the tracheostomy collar for small periods throughout the day, but needs to go back in a controlled mode overnight, where he gets a set rate from the ventilator. And then during the daytime, he doesn’t really last for more than an hour on CPAP and then maybe a few minutes on the tracheostomy mask. I’m interested in any and all information you can give me regarding ventilation care at home and weaning, including availability, cost, insurance coverage, and the list goes on. My dad is actually in a private ICU and has private health insurance. We believe that going home would be so beneficial for him. It would be beneficial for us as a family. He is really suffering from major depression here in ICU. And if he doesn’t get home, we think he’s losing the will to live. And he’s in a dark room in ICU, no natural daylight. And he has no natural day and night rhythm. And whilst the ICU seem to be doing all they can, it’s just not a good environment for him. And we believe going home. We’ll speed up the process and weaning him off the ventilator. Please let me know how you can help us. From, Jenna Hi Jenna, Thank you so much for your question and for your email. Now, what you are describing here is, sounds to me like we can help you get your dad home on a ventilator with a tracheostomy and continue the weaning him off the ventilator at home. Now, in terms of cost, the ICU bed costs around $6,000 per bed day. We can probably provide that for around half of the cost, which means your private health insurance will have an interest in cutting down that cost by half. So the private health insurance will probably pay for it. And the ICU should have an interest in helping your dad leave ICU, free up the ICU bed, free up equipment, free up staff and make room for another patient that is in a dire need of ICU, because your dad can really be looked after at home going forward. In terms of medical oversight, that could be a GP. It could be here in Melbourne. It could be the Victorian Respiratory Support Service (VRSS), at the Austin hospital. There are a number of avenues we can help you with from a medical point of view. How we can help you with medical oversight and also help us because we can’t really take your dad home against medical advice and we don’t want to do that either. But it sounds to me like your dad is a very good candidate for going home and the cost will be taken care of. I’m pretty sure by the private health insurance. From our end, it’ll probably take a few weeks to set it up, getting equipment, getting staff and so forth, but we’ve done it before and we can do it for your dad as well. We are Melbourne bases. You might be aware. So get in contact with us and we’ll go from there. Probably best to call me on 0410942230. Take care. Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/my-dad-is-on-a-ventilator-for-3-months-is-suffering-from-a-major-depression-here-in-icu-can-your-service-at-intensive-care-at-home-help-us-bring-him-home/