Quick tip for families in ICU: Being asked to decide on a tracheostomy after only one week?

https://intensivecarehotline.com/blog/quick-tip-for-families-in-icu-being-asked-to-decide-on-a-tracheostomy-after-only-one-week/

Quick tip for families in ICU: Being asked to decide on a tracheostomy after only one week?

https://intensivecarehotline.com/questions/wean-critically-ill-patient-intensive-care-off-ventilator-breathing-tube

https://intensivecarehotline.com/blog/quick-tip-for-families-in-icu-how-to-avoid-a-tracheostomy/

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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, today’s tip is about a reader that writes us a very quick email saying their loved one has been in an intensive care for about a week, and they have already been asked for a tracheostomy, and they’re asking if that’s too early. So, if you look at the research and the evidence, it suggests that after day 10 to 14 of mechanical ventilation with a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube and an induced coma, that a tracheostomy would be most appropriate, assuming that the patient can’t be weaned off the ventilator and needs ventilation for more than two weeks.

So, asking after about seven days and making a decision is probably a little bit premature. The most important question you need to ask is, what are they doing to get your loved one off the ventilator and avoid the tracheostomy beyond the shadow of a doubt? That is the most important question that you need to ask in a situation like that. And I have written an article and made a video about this, “What to do to get someone off the ventilator and avoid a tracheostomy?” and I’ll put a link below this video to that article and video.

So now, if they ask you after day 7, it could well be that they are anticipating that your loved one might need ventilation for more than two weeks, maybe for three or for four weeks. Maybe they can already anticipate that. Maybe he’s got a severe traumatic brain injury. But you know, again, these are the type of questions you need to ask.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know their rights, and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care. And that’s the biggest challenge here.

And also, tomorrow, I will be doing a YouTube live where I will answer more questions about how to avoid a tracheostomy or what are alternatives to a tracheostomy. So, look out for our YouTube live tomorrow at 10:30 AM Sydney, Melbourne Time on a Sunday the 16th of October, which is 7:30 Eastern Standard Time on a Saturday night in the U.S. So look out for that YouTube livestream as well.

That’s my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Contact us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or simply send us an email to [email protected].

Also, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org.

If you need a medical record review, please contact us as well. We can help you with that as well in medical record review in ICU or after intensive care. We can help you with all of that.

And, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, give the video a like, share it with your friends and families, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, or what questions and insights you have from this video.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I’ll talk to you in a few days.