Hi there!
Today’s article is about, “Quick Tip for Intensive
Care: How to Make Effective Complaints When You Have a Loved One Critically Ill in Intensive Care!”
You may also watch this through this YouTube link https://youtu.be/UrcCHRDY2w0 or you can continue reading the article below.
Quick Tip for Intensive Care: How to Make Effective Complaints When You Have a Loved One Critically Ill in Intensive Care!
Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.
So today I want to actually talk about complaint processes in hospitals and in ICU in particular, because sometimes, resolutions can’t be found about ICU care, resolutions can’t be found about sometimes a bad attitude in ICU.
I mean, a lot of families in intensive care come to us and they say, “Oh, the ICU team is so negative, it’s doom and gloom everywhere. I don’t want to listen to it anymore.” And then they find out by talking to me and my team that they haven’t even offered them all options available for treatment. And then they realize that ICU teams sometimes mislead families, and that’s not across the board, like I always say there’s a lot of good things happening in ICU. But there’s also a lot of negative things happening in ICU. And unfortunately, when negative things are happening in ICU, that’s when families usually reach out to us. So really we’re dealing
with families that are dissatisfied in ICU, that are anxious, that feel lonely throughout this journey, that feel misunderstood, that don’t feel heard by the intensive care team. And, they’re also feeling judged by intensive care teams for what they want for their loved ones.
So sometimes those conflicts can’t be solved on an ICU level by just you talking to the doctors and nurses. If anything,
sometimes pushback might make things worse. But I also believe you should not be worried about pushbacks because if you’re not speaking up, things will definitely end up badly. If your things are not moving in the right direction, not speaking up, you’re not doing anyone a favor.
So what we advise in this situation is, we advise to actually move the complaint outside of the ICU, move the complaint
to an executive level within the hospital. I.e. make a complaint to the hospital general manager, hospital CEO, hospital president, whatever that title is basically the person who’s in charge of the hospital. Or make the complaint to the medical director of the hospital or make the complaint to a nursing director or chief nursing officer, whatever the title may be. I have worked on an executive level within hospitals and a complaint can’t be ignored by the executive. So that is my advice and
what we’ve done for many years now, we have successfully created letters and emails for our clients to write to the executive and we have written to executives on our client’s behalf with very good outcomes because like I said, the hospital on an executive management level cannot ignore the complaint of a client or a patient or a family. They have to be responsive. But if they’re not, you could go to the media tomorrow and you would probably have the media, being very interested in a story like
that.
So what we’ve done just, as a case study here as well, just in the last 24 hours, we crafted an email for a client to the hospital management about the complaint. And, they had a response within less than eight hours and a favorable response. Now they actually want to talk, and they want to talk outside of intensive care. There’s a quote from Albert Einstein who says that you can’t solve a
problem on the level that it was created at. Basically, what that means in this context is you can’t solve the problem on an ICU level because, ICUs can often be obstructive. They’re very dogmatic at times thinking they know it all. And, they judge families for what they want for their loved ones and that’s not the right approach.
So that’s why you need to take it outside of ICU. That’s why you need
to take it to a different level away from the ICU team and find a resolution there. And often you will find, you will find a resolution because hospital executive might also say, well, why is the family complaining? We should not have any complaints. And once they realize what the complaint is all about, then the hospital executive might say, well, not on my watch. I want a favored resolution here for the patient and for the family.
You’d be surprised. So we have written many, many emails to hospital executives for our clients or on our client’s behalf and we can do the same for you and you will see that again, the dynamics will change because that’s what you’re looking for. You’re looking for the dynamics to change in your favor because by the time you’re coming to us, you need help and we can help you with that very, very quickly.
So that is my quick tip for today.
If you need help and you have a loved one in intensive care, we have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care at intensivecarehotline.com. You can click on the membership link there or you can go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. Furthermore, in the membership, you have access to me and my team 24 hours a day. In the membership area and via email and we answer all questions, intensive care related.
I also offer one on one consulting and advocacy over the phone, via Skype, via email, WhatsApp, Zoom, whichever medium works best for you. And I talked to doctors and nurses directly and I ask all the questions you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one, critically ill in
intensive care.
I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams as a professional consultant and advocate. And again, I make sure you’re not getting walked all over in those meetings. You have a voice and you have a voice that can represent you well on a clinical level and on a family level as well.
Now, we also offer medical record reviews in real-time, once again, so that you can make informed decisions, and have peace of mind, control, power and influence. And we also offer medical record reviews after intensive care. If you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence. Now, if and if you need help for any of these, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our
website or send us an email to support@intensivecarehotline.com.
Now, if you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in
intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell. Share the video with your friends and families and comment below what questions and insights you have or what you want to see next.
Thank you so much for watching.
This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com,
and I will talk to you in a few days.
Take care for now.
