Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM, where we instantly improve the lives for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can make informed decisions, 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 the last BLOG I shared
WHY HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY WHEN IT COMES TO LIFE OR DEATH SITUATIONS 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 talk about
The cold harsh truth about intensive care that families in ICU need to know!
In today’s blog I want to give a word of warning to families in Intensive Care!
Your and other families’ biggest challenge is simply that you don’t know what you don’t know when your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care!
It’s like stepping into the matrix. What you see is actually not what you get! There is a different world behind the curtains on the other side and I can help you to get the key to that matrix!
It’s the elusive obvious!
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I know that may be disappointing for some of you, however glorifying the doctors and the nurses isn’t going to help you to make informed decisions, get peace of mind, control, power and influence!
The only way you can actually take control is facing reality as it is and then deal with it!
Reality in intensive care can be quite daunting, especially if you watched some crappy and unrealistic TV shows and soap operas like “ER” or any other unrealistic TV shows that are out there about hospitals, ICU or ER.
Forget about it! The day to day reality in Intensive Care is nothing like it!
You have to learn new things fast when you have a loved one in intensive care, you will need to withhold judgement and be on high alert until the picture becomes clear for you and until you can make informed decisions!
I’m here to help you with making sense in this difficult and heartbreaking situation, where you feel like people have pulled out the rug from underneath you!
Most of all, I’m here to help you to make informed decisions, get peace of mind, control, power and influence!
So why do I say, that there is a “cold, harsh truth about intensive care that families need to know about?”
I’m glad you’ve asked.
After having worked in intensive care for 20 years in three different countries, where I also worked as a nurse unit manager for over five years, I have seen enough to ‘lift the curtains’ for you and take you “behind the scenes” in intensive care.
Without understanding what’s happening “behind the scenes” in intensive care it’s very difficult to make sense out of what you’ve been told by intensive care teams.
Everything that is being communicated to you and your family when you have a loved one in intensive care needs to be seen in light of what’s happening “behind the
scenes” in intensive care.
This is particular important if your loved one is in one of the following situations in intensive care
Your loved one is either
Those situations are the most challenging situations in intensive care quite frankly! Your loved one’s life is on the line period!
Those situations are also the situations where the stakes are incredibly high for intensive care teams.
Why are the stakes high for intensive care teams?
I’m glad you’ve asked…
They are high because of the implications that those situations have for intensive care units
What are the implications?
I’m glad you’ve asked…
The implications are issues such as
- Costs of those situations for Intensive Care units
- Profit margins of those situations for intensive care units
- Bed management in intensive care, i.e. are those situations leading to bed blocks and take up a bed in ICU for longer than is convenient for the ICU and the hospital?
- Staffing issues, i.e. is there enough skilled staff to look after all critically ill Patients?
- Staffing skill mix, I.e. junior staff vs senior staff. Most Intensive Care units are chronically short staffed and report a lack of senior staff specifically. Why? Because ICU is fast paced and quite frankly a lot of senior staff are sick of the politics, the hierarchy etc… in ICU and they leave the environment. This impacts hugely on ICU’s, especially on the moral of staff and of course it impacts on the ability to provide expert
care if Intensive Care units have mainly junior staff on the floor
- Medical research interests. I.e. Patients they can enrol into medical research studies vs Patients that can’t be enrolled into medical research studies
- perceived outcomes of prolonged treatment and prolonged therapy
Am I suggesting that Intensive Care units don’t care at all?
There are a lot of caring doctors and nurses working in Intensive Care period. I have worked with many of them.
Most health professionals in Intensive Care are very caring and compassionate people.
However, there are also medical, nursing and hospital administrators counting the beans so to speak and therefore, a lot of what is being communicated to you and your family is simply a result of what’s happening “behind the scenes” in Intensive Care! It’s a result of financial and resource management and not necessarily a result of the clinical realities!
The communication is a result of “counting the beans” so to speak.
Therefore you have to always read between the lines, period!
Failure to read between the lines will get you into all sorts of trouble and could quite frankly cost the live of your loved one!
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If you don’t understand what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in intensive care, you can’t interpret information correctly and you’re probably caught in the Intensive
Care team’s negativity without you being able to make sense of it and interpret information to you and your family correctly.
You need to be able to read between the lines in order to negotiate best care and treatment for your critically ill loved one when they are at the brink of dying in Intensive Care.
There is an elephant in the room.
What is the elephant in the room?
I’m glad you asked…
The “elephant in the room” as well as what’s happening “BEHIND THE SCENES” in intensive care is all dominating when it comes to how information is being delivered to you!
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So what does that look like in reality?
The “best case scenario” for Intensive Care Units is a high turnover of Patients and reasonably short stays, whilst having more than 80-90% of beds filled.
Why? Because that maximizes revenue and it still leaves room for emergency admissions and other unplanned admissions, such as Patients with unplanned complications after surgery needing Intensive Care.
The worst-case scenario for Intensive Care units is the following situation.
- Those Patients therefore require plenty of resources, I.e. beds, equipment and staff with specialist skills such as ICU doctors, ICU nurses etc…
- This is very resource intensive and an ICU bed costs $5,000 per bed day and if a Patient is occupying one of those expensive and in-demand beds- especially if there is an uncertain outcome- Intensive Care Units are often reluctant to use all of these resources
- This scenario, where ICU Patients are in a situation where they are unstable, very sick and the outcome is uncertain, is what often leads to Intensive Care teams being overtly negative. Those situations lead to Intensive Care teams saying that they think it’s “in the best interest” of a Patient to “withdraw or limit life support”.
- In those situations, negativity and “doom and gloom” isn’t going to help. Your loved one will need time and if you don’t know how to negotiate this time with the Intensive Care team, you will fight an uphill battle.
- You will also need to be able o find out if all treatment options have been offered and performed
- Make a distinction between “perceived” or “real” end of life situations. This is one way to find out what to do going forward
Related article/video:
The Difference Between “Real” And “Perceived” End Of Life Situations When Your Loved One Is Critically Ill In Intensive Care!
- You will only be able to do that with a professional. This is something we can help you with here at intensivecarehotline.com because we can ask Intensive Care teams all the relevant clinical questions and we act as consultants and advocates on your behalf.
- Again, your biggest challenge as a family who has a loved one in intensive care is simply that you don’t know what you don’t know
- You don’t know what to look for and you don’t know what clinical questions you need to ask
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- In order to get the outcomes fast that your critically ill loved one will need in order to survive, you will need superior negotiation skills and clinical insights that you only get with the help of a professional consultant and advocate
- Extended and prolonged treatment in intensive care is often what gets your loved one to survive. The goal is to get your loved one to leave ICU alive and then take the next steps towards what can be a long recovery. The alternative to stop treatment prematurely is too bleak to consider
- Make sure that “what you see is what you get”
Related article/video:
HOW TO MAKE SURE THAT “WHAT YOU SEE IS ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET” WHILST YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE!
- Most of all, do never give up! Listen to some of our client interviews on our INTENSIVE CARE HOTLINE podcast so you can listen first hand in how clients went from their family members being very sick and supposedly dying to recovery after we helped those families with
consulting and advocacy!
