What the doctors and the nurses behaviour in Intensive Care is telling you about the culture in a unit
Published: Tue, 06/18/13
telling you about the culture in a unit
Your loved one has just been admitted to Intensive Care and is
being treated for their critical illness.
You feel like some of the doctors and nurses are talking at you and
over you and don't necessarily talk with you or talk to you.
You feel like you are not in a good place and you may feel like
there is a big barrier between you and the health professionals
that are in charge of your critically ill loved one's destiny.
You may have been asked to get out of the room or the cubicle every
time the doctors are doing their ward round and examine your loved
one and you may have wondered whether they've got anything to hide.
When you are allowed to come back, they have already moved on and
the bedside nurse is giving you a summary of the plan ahead.
Of course you can wait for one of the doctors to talk to you later
in the day what is going to happen to your critically ill loved
one.
About 10 minutes later the bedside nurse is asking you kindly to
leave the room again, as she wants to "quickly" turn your loved one
to the other side so that he or she doesn't get a pressure sore.
10 minutes go by and even half an hour, before you are "allowed" to
get back in. You realize that you have little or no control, let
alone have a say of what's happening to your critically ill loved
one. The very person that you share a house with, the very person
that you love or the very person that is of your own flesh and
blood. All of a sudden there are people creating all these barriers
around you and you feel like you are in this big machinery that you
can't control. You wonder whether the doctors and nurses would want
their own family be treated like that.
It doesn't have to be that way, but most Intensive Care Units or
even some individual health professionals are still creating those
barriers between health professionals, Patients and their Families.
Some units are more progressive than others, but you probably have
a feel by now of the things that could be improved in order to make
you and your family more comfortable with what is happening with
your critically ill loved one. Health professionals in Intensive
Care are like fish in water and they often don't even realize how
the people who are not in the water may feel.
A recent article suggested that "Decisions to forgo life support
may depend heavily on the ICU where patients are treated".
The article explains how the culture in an Intensive Care unit or
in a hospital impacts on the care provider's decision making around
life support or withholding CPR or withholding mechanical
ventilation. The article suggests that the ICU culture is the
biggest influence on a Patient's treatment, coming before Patient
and Family preferences.
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Sincerely,
your Friend
Patrik
Patrik Hutzel
Critical Care Nurse
Founder& Editor
INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM
support@intensivecarehotline.com