Hi, it's Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the
lives of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have PEACE OF MIND, real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making fast, even if you're not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive Care!
In last week's blog I've shown you How to STOP being INTIMIDATED by the Intensive Care team and how you will be SEEN as
EQUALS!" You can check out last week's blog here.
In this week's blog I want to show you Why decision making in Intensive Care GOES WAY BEYOND your critically ill
loved one's DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS!
If your loved one has been admitted to Intensive Care for critical illness, chances are that you and your Family are out of your comfort zone, you feel frustrated, vulnerable, frightened, scared, without PEACE OF MIND, without power, without control and without influence.
Furthermore, you and your Family have really no idea what's happening to your critically ill loved one, all you can see is tubes, monitors and other technical equipment that's keeping your critically ill loved one stable and/or alive.
If your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care, is relatively stable and is on their way out of Intensive Care you don't have to worry too much as the next steps are on the horizon and that's great news.
Critical situations in Intensive Care are a big challenge
However, if your critically ill loved one is not on their way out of Intensive Care and if they are in a dire and critical situation such as
- They are very unstable and in a very critical condition
- They are in a life threatening situation
- They are in Intensive Care for
long-term treatments and long-term stays
- They are approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
You and your Family are in a situation that's testing your patience, your strength, your belief system, your values and it will
also be a test for your communication skills with the Intensive Care team. Your worst nightmares have become a reality and you and your Family are at a loss and you don't know what to do.
99% of Families in Intensive Care have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence...
Now, the reality and the fact of the matter is that if your critically ill loved one is in one of the situations that I described above, PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence are generally speaking out of your reach. That's of course only if you are like 99% of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence and they also consciously or unconsciously believe that they can't have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence in those difficult and challenging situations.
But if you consciously decide that you want to belong into that tiny little 1% bracket of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence and that it's totally
within your reach if you learned the right skills, the right strategies and if you learn what's happening "behind the scenes" in Intensive Care!
The reality is that if your
critically ill loved one in Intensive Care falls into one of the categories where they are
- very unstable and in a very critical condition
- in a life threatening
situation
- in Intensive Care for long-term treatments and long-term stays
- approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
The
Intensive Care team wants to "call the shots" and they want to keep all the power, control and influence. They have no interest in putting any decision making power over to you and to your Family.
Why do I say this?
I say this because after more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing in three different countries, I have seen many situations where the decision making process around your critically ill loved one's diagnosis and
prognosis by the Intensive Care team GOES WAY BEYOND the clinical issues at hand.
What do I mean by that?
You see, if your loved one is in one of those critical and/or life threatening situations, there is a lot at stake. After all it's your critically ill loved one's life, their health and after all it's you and your Family who need to live with the consequences of the situation.
However, the Intensive Care team often bases their decision making in those difficult situations around what's happening "behind the scenes" in a busy, stressful and competitive
environment.
Let's say your critically ill loved one has been in Intensive Care for four weeks after a car
accident with a head injury. Your loved one still hasn't fully woken up and they are still on a ventilator with a Tracheostomy. The recovery of your loved one has been extremely slow and the Intensive Care team has been very vague about the future of your critically ill loved one...
You can see that your loved one is having a difficult and hard time and so do you and your Family, because you basically had to put your life on hold whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care. You haven't slept properly, you haven't eaten properly, you have neglected the rest of your Family, you haven't been able to work and so on... in fact you are close to a nervous breakdown, as it's all getting too much for you
and your Family...
The Intensive Care team's positioning is dependent on what's happening "BEHIND THE SCENES"
Worst of all, as time progresses and your loved one is still not progressing, the Intensive Care team wants to meet with you and your Family to "discuss" the next steps for your critically
ill loved one.
In the meeting the Intensive Care team says that after four weeks your critically ill loved one has not progressed as well as they would have liked them to progress and they are wondering whether continuing treatment would be in the "best interest" of your critically ill loved one... For the first time you and your Family are hearing the words"withdrawal of treatment" and "limitation of treatment".
You and your Family are very surprised, if not shocked by what the Intensive Care team has been telling you.
Even though your critically ill loved one hasn't been progressing as quickly as you would like them to progress, you and your Family were prepared to wait, to be patient and basically "to do whatever it takes" in order to get your critically ill loved one through this challenge!
What you and your Family don't know is that DECISION MAKING IN INTENSIVE CARE IS GOING WAY BEYOND YOUR CRITICALLY ILL LOVED ONE'S DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS!
http://intensivecarehotline.com/decision-making-intensive-care-goes-way-beyond-critically-ill-loved-ones-diagnosis-prognosis/
What do I mean by
that?
The situation that your critically ill loved one is in is a difficult and challenging situation. It's a resource intensive situation.
Furthermore, the
Intensive Care team knows that your loved one would need more time to recover and would use more of those expensive and precious resources in an already stretched Intensive Care Unit.
Furthermore, the Intensive Care team knows that if treatment is being continued, they would lose money and they would lose their profit that they've
made so far.
Furthermore, the Intensive Care team knows that other admissions are waiting for precious and scarce Intensive Care beds. If they don't admit other acute admissions into the unit they might alienate some other powerful key players such as surgeons or Emergency room physicians etc...
The Intensive Care team also knows that the interest in continuing treatment on your critically ill loved one not only stops them from making money, they also lost interest because your critically ill loved one doesn't fall into a medical research category, whilst other Patients in the Intensive Care Unit fall into a medical research category.
Why is this important?
It's important because medical research tends to attract annual 5, 6 or 7 figure $$$ funding and Intensive
Care Units rely on getting funding for medical research and if your loved one doesn't fall into one of those medical research categories, the Intensive Care team might have an interest in moving on to the next case where they can practice research and therefore attract more funding.
The same applies that if your critically ill
loved one is actually in a situation where they are approaching their end of life, the Intensive Care team may actually distort the facts once again and they may tell you that a recovery is possible whereas in fact, a recovery may not be possible, however because your critically ill loved one may fall into a medical research category that attracts 5, 6 or even 7 figure $$$ funding and the data the Intensive Care team can extract from your loved one's treatment might be of interest for one of
the research studies being conducted in the unit.
In those situations, your loved one is going through prolonged and unnecessary suffering...
Therefore, once again,
DECISION MAKING IN INTENSIVE CARE IS GOING WAY BEYOND YOUR CRITICALLY ILL LOVED ONE'S DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS!
Your and your Family's job is to have and develop an acute awareness about what's happening "behind the scenes" and you and your Family need to have your own positioning worked out in those difficult and challenging situations!
http://intensivecarehotline.com/decision-making-intensive-care-goes-way-beyond-critically-ill-loved-ones-diagnosis-prognosis/
Also, check out our "YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED" section
where
I answer all of YOUR questions
http://intensivecarehotline.com/category/questions/
In this week I answer another one of OUR READER'S QUESTION
Will my 19 year old son EVER come off the VENTILATOR after he ASPIRATED during a SEIZURE?
Find the answer to this question here http://intensivecarehotline.com/will-19-year-old-son-ever-come-ventilator-aspirated-seizure/
If you want your questions answered just hit reply to this email or email me at support@intensivecarehotline.com and I'll answer your questions!
Also
keep an eye out for our upcoming product launch in the next couple of months! We are NOW finalizing our first product that will help Families of critically ill Patients deal with and take control of most situations in Intensive Care, even if their loved one is dying!
The product will be an "IN-DEPTH" education product for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care and a SHORTCUT for Families to control, power& influence!
The focus of the education product will be on PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence during the following situations in Intensive Care
- long-term stays in Intensive Care
- end- of- life situations
- Family meetings
- withdrawal of treatment situations and/or perceived medical futility
- how Families need to manage doctors and nurses
- how to manage fears, frustration and emotions
The product will be made available in Ebook, Video and Audio format so that our Customers can consume the product in their chosen
medium!
If you have any questions about our upcoming products or if you have any suggestions please let me know at support@intensivecarehotline.com
Your
Friend
Patrik Hutzel
Critical Care Nurse
Founder& Editor
WWW.INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM
