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 shared with you
“The 5 ways how to overcome the most challenging situations in Intensive Care, if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!”
You can check out last week’s BLOG by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s BLOG I want to
give you some very special insights and I want to embark with you on
”THE ULTIMATE FASTLANE TO PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE!"
If your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care and if you and your family are still struggling to come to terms with having your loved one critically ill in Intensive Care know that there is help out there!
It’s tough, it’s very challenging and it’s also a “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” situation, having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care!
It’s a situation and a challenge that you can’t really afford of getting wrong and that’s what we do at INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM, we help you and your family to get this “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” challenge right, no matter how challenging the situation!
Related article:
Why having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care is “A ONCE IN A LIFETIME” situation and why YOU can’t AFFORD GETTING IT WRONG!
Things often move slowly in Intensive Care!
Intensive Care professionals, whether doctors, nurses, physiotherapists or respiratory therapists will usually tell you that if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care that you need to be patient, that it’s one step at the time and that it can be two steps forward and one step
back.
In any case they are implicitly or explicitly implying that nothing happens fast in the Intensive Care environment.
And I can probably vouch for Intensive Care being a slow environment to be in, especially if you are a critically ill Patient or if you are family of a critically ill Patient watching your critically ill loved one suffer! Intensive Care can be very fast paced for the health professionals working in the environment, however for you and your family, things probably look like they are moving slow!
99% of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence!
It’s even worse 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!
If you are like 99% of Families of critically
ill Patients in Intensive Care you are passive, you are intimidated by the Intensive Care team, you “suck up” to the Intensive Care team, you put them on a “pedestal”, you don’t question, you don’t do your own research, you don’t want to “rock the boat” and you let time just go by without you pro-actively seeking out a solution and become a master of your own destiny!
In the meantime, the Intensive Care team is driving their own hidden agenda, they let what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care dictate and influence on how they position your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis to you and your family!
In the meantime, your fears, your frustrations, your stress levels, your overwhelming emotions, your pain, your anxiety, you being so vulnerable and by you being so far outside of your comfort zone is even more paralysing to you and your family so that you feel stuck in a corner without PEACE OF MIND,
without control, without power and without influence!
And the problem is that all around you so see those 99% of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence!
All around you, you see people who are not taking matters in their own hands, all around you, you see people who have no awareness that if your critically ill loved one is either
- very unstable and in a very critical condition
- in a life threatening situation
- in Intensive Care for long-term treatments and long-term stays
- having a severe(traumatic) head or brain injury
- THREATENED with an “NFR”(Not for resuscitation) or “DNR”(Do not resuscitate)
order
- In a situation where the Intensive Care team suggests a “withdrawal of treatment” or a “limitation of treatment” as being “IN THE BEST INTEREST” of your critically ill loved one
- approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
that you need to something
distinctly different compared to the 99% of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence!
What’s
happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” is ultimately driving the
positioning of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis!
You need to get a grip and a handle on things very quickly because otherwise the Intensive Care team will continue to “drive the bus”, to “run the show” and to “call the
shots” without you even realising what’s happening and more importantly without you realising what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care that will ultimately drive the positioning by the Intensive Care team of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis!
Now imagine, what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care is driving the positioning of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis!
The truth and the fact of the matter is that after more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing in three different countries and after I have literally worked with THOUSANDS of critically ill Patients and their Families, I have seen far too many situations where the things that were happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive
Care were the all powerful driving force in how a critically ill Patients diagnosis and prognosis has been presented to Families!
What do I mean by that?
In order to dig deep and explain this in detail to you, I have to quickly repeat myself here to really make this very clear to you!
Remember, the minute your critically ill loved
one is either
- very unstable and in a very critical condition
- in a life threatening situation
- in Intensive Care for long-term treatments and long-term stays
- having a severe(traumatic) head or brain injury
- THREATENED with an “NFR”(Not for resuscitation) or “DNR”(Do not resuscitate) order
- In a situation where the Intensive Care team suggests a “withdrawal of treatment” or a “limitation of treatment” as being “IN
THE BEST INTEREST” of your critically ill loved one
- approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
that’s the minute when the Intensive Care team is changing their behaviour, they are very guarded in their language, they know what to say, how to say it, when to say it so that they can keep you and your family at “arm’s length” so to speak!
The minute your critically ill loved one is in one of the aforementioned challenging and heart breaking situations, the last thing the Intensive Care team wants is for you to have any PEACE OF MIND, or any power, any control or any influence!
Intensive Care is a multi- Billion Dollar $$$ per year industry and therefore the stakes are extremely high!
The last thing the Intensive Care team wants for you during those
challenging, difficult and heartbreaking situations is to be able to influence anything that’s been discussed behind closed doors “BEHIND THE SCENES” in their meetings!
Keep in mind at all times that Intensive Care is a multi-BILLION Dollar $$$ per year industry and keep in mind that what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care is all about the power play and the power struggles, the politics, the competing interests, the dynamics, the intrigue and the psychology of the Intensive Care team.
The things and dynamics that are going on “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care are almost always influencing the way your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis is being presented to you by the Intensive Care team!
The things that are happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in Intensive Care are always almost dictated by the
- Financial interests of the Intensive Care team, i.e. does the Intensive Care team think that by offering and then giving your critically ill loved one the best and full treatment supports their financial agenda in meeting their revenue or budget targets?
- The massive bed management pressures in Intensive Care, i.e. Intensive Care beds are in huge demand and they are precious, scarce and expensive. Therefore many other critically ill Patients are constantly competing for Intensive Care beds and the Intensive Care team tends to be highly selective about how much treatment they offer to whom, in order to keep driving their mainly hidden agenda
and occupy their beds in their best interest!
- The Intensive Care team’s mainly hidden agenda is not only driven by their Multi- Million Dollar $$$ interests and by their bed management interests, it’s also driven by
their medical research interests! Medical research attracts multi-million
dollar $$$ per year funding to Intensive Care Units and is a massive revenue driver and a positioning tool for Intensive Care Units! Medical research is constantly being performed on real human beings and real critically ill Patients without them or their Families being aware of it, let alone them having been informed or them having given written or verbal
consent! Critically ill Patients who fall into a medical research category have a higher chance to get prolonged and best treatment as opposed to critically ill Patients where the Intensive Care team can’t perform medical research!
Related article:
How MEDICAL RESEARCH DOMINATES your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis, as well as the CARE and TREATMENT your loved one IS RECEIVING or NOT RECEIVING!
For example, if the Intensive Care team suggests to you in a formal family meeting that a “withdrawal of treatment” or a “limitation of treatment” would be “IN THE BEST INTEREST” for your critically ill loved one, it could well mean that
1. The Intensive Care team doesn’t want to spend any money and/or other resources continuing to treat your critically ill loved one
2. Other, in the eyes of the Intensive Care team more “viable” Patients are waiting for an
scarce and expensive Intensive Care bed
3. Your critically ill loved one doesn’t fall into a medical research category and therefore the Intensive Care team has lost interest in continuing treatment and they want to move on to other
Patients
The list here is not exhaustive and is only a snapshot of what could influence the Intensive Care team’s positioning of your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis, however the fact of the matter is that the wheels that are in motion in Intensive Care are so
powerful and complex that if you don’t embark on
”THE ULTIMATE FASTLANE TO PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE!",
you will literally have a hard time to have any PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence and your critically ill loved one’s destiny is left in the Intensive Care team’s hands only!
The Intensive Care team will have an easy time to drive home their hidden agenda and the Intensive Care team can “sell” you on whatever they want, without you even realising that it’s happening!
Also, check out our "YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED" section
where I answer all of YOUR questions
http://intensivecarehotline.com/category/questions/
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!
This is another episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED” and in last week’s episode I answered another question from one of our readers and the question last week was
"My loved one has HIV, lymphoma on his brain, seizures, septic and is ventilated! The Intensive Care team is trying to TAKE MY HOPE AWAY and they are all NEGATIVE! HELP!"
You can check out the answer to last week’s question by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED” I want
to answer another question that our readers ask quite frequently and the question this week is
“WHAT ARE THE RISKS AND BENEFITS OF A TRACHEOSTOMY?”
If your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care and if your loved one has been ventilated via an endotracheal tube or a standard breathing tube and if your loved one also
hasn’t been able to get off the ventilator and if they haven’t been able to be weaned off the ventilator,
the Intensive Care team may have mentioned that they are thinking about performing a tracheostomy.
A tracheostomy tube
is a tube that is inserted in a Patient’s neck into the windpipe or trachea. It’s a substitute for the breathing tube or endotracheal tube, if a critically ill Patient can’t be weaned off a ventilator!
There are numerous reasons why a critically ill Patient can’t be weaned off a ventilator and may need a tracheostomy and we have addressed most of the issues in related articles that you can check out here by clicking on the links.
In today’s blog post we only want to
focus on the risks and the benefits of a tracheostomy, so let’s dive right into it.
Let’s look at the benefits first.
- A tracheostomy tube is generally speaking a lot easier to tolerate for a critically ill Patient,
as opposed to a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube through the mouth. In essence a tracheostomy tube is a breathing
tube as well, however it’s in a different location that is much easier to tolerate for a critically ill Patient
- As soon as a tracheostomy has been performed, sedation and opiates(pain medication) can be reduced or even taken away to a bare
minimum and a critically ill Patient can either be woken up or it can be attempted to wake a critically ill Patient if they are otherwise medically stable. In any case, by now you would have seen that a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube through the mouth is very uncomfortable and requires a fair amount of sedation to keep your critically ill loved one comfortable
- As soon as the tracheostomy has been performed, the weaning process off a ventilator can be commenced if the clinical condition allows. That means that as soon as sedation is either reduced or taken away and a critically ill Patient is more awake, trials to take away the ventilator for periods of time can be commenced. This would be very difficult without the
tracheostomy because critically ill Patients with a breathing tube or endotracheal tube require sedatives and opiates that keep them in an induced coma. The tracheostomy tube tends to be a good conduit to get Patients off sedatives, off opiates(pain medication) and get them out of the induced coma quicker and then start the weaning process off the ventilator!
- The management of suctioning and the management of secretions tends to easier as well, due to the tracheostomy having a short length, compared to a breathing tube/ endotracheal tube. The breathing tube/endotracheal tube is much longer and therefore suctioning and secretion management tends to be far more difficult and also tends to be more uncomfortable. It’s also easier for a critically ill Patient to cough up their own secretions due to having less sedatives
in their body system and also due to the tracheostomy tube being shorter compared to a breathing tube/ endotracheal tube!
- Once a critically ill Patient is more stable on the tracheostomy and has had time off the ventilator as well, the next steps can be to use a speaking valve
so that they can start talking again. Overall, communication with a tracheostomy tends to be much improved compared to Patients with an endotracheal tube/ breathing tube. This is because of less sedation and also because the mouth is not being obstructed any longer. Even if Patients can’t talk as yet with a speaking valve, they can now use a letter board or can write if they are stable and are not confused or in a coma that’s not related to sedatives and opiates(pain
medication)
- If all goes well and your critically ill loved one can be off the ventilator completely, it also
should allow for a discharge to a ward area even with a tracheostomy
- A tracheostomy also allows for improved mouth and oral hygiene. Teeth can be brushed and even though oral food or fluid intake is often restricted with a tracheostomy, small steps towards eating and drinking can be taken by using crushed ice or sips of water. And even though food intake is generally speaking not allowed with a tracheostomy, again small portions of food can be used and lead to more oral food intake even with
a tracheostomy
Let’s now look at the risks of a tracheostomy
The major risks of a tracheostomy are that it’s
- An invasive procedure and it requires a cut in the skin
- A foreign body in a critically ill Patient’s windpipe/ trachea
- A tracheostomy needs specialised staff(doctors and nurses) to look after
- Increased infection risk due to the invasive procedure and also due to the bypass of the normal infection prevention structures such as nose and mouth
- A tracheostomy may block easily and therefore needs constant monitoring
- A tracheostomy may lead to more ventilation support if the weaning off the ventilator fails. Keep
in mind that the initial tracheostomy is often done to speed up the weaning process. Therefore, if weaning fails, critically ill Patients can often enter a vicious cycle where they get depressed. Depression, lack of quality of life in combination with ventilator
dependency and a long-term stay in Intensive Care can sometimes aggravate the situation and the depression triggers the ventilator dependency and the ventilator dependency triggers the depression.
Related
article:
Tracheostomy and weaning off the ventilator how long can it take?
I hope that helps and I hope that clarifies how you can weigh up risks and benefits if your critically ill loved one may need a tracheostomy.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Send your
questions to support@intensivecarehotline.com
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!
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you want to be featured on our PODCAST with your story, just email me at support@intensivecarehotline.com
FREE Video Mini- Course out now!
If you are interested in more FREE education and information if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care, I
have created a FREE mini- course
A BLUEPRINT for PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER& INFLUENCE whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!
The FREE Video Mini-
course consists of 4 short videos that will educate you quickly and succinctly how you can have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care.
You can sign up and get your first FREE Video here
http://intensivecarehotline.com/free-mini-course/
Also, our cutting edge new information PRODUCT will be released soon!
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Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care and a SHORTCUT for Families to have PEACE OF MIND, 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
- Family meetings with the Intensive Care team
- withdrawal of treatment situations and/or perceived medical futility
- what to do if your critically ill loved one is THREATENED with an "NFR" (Not for resuscitation) or "DNR" (Do not resuscitate) order
- severe head and brain injuries (including traumatic brain injuries and stroke)
The information product will be made available in Ebook, Video and Audio format so that our Customers can consume the information product in their chosen medium!
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Our cutting edge new information PRODUCT is a shortcut to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care!
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