Walking Home From The ICU Episode 118 Mobility Saves Lives During ECMO

Walking Home From The ICU Episode 118: Mobility Saves Lives During ECMO

During the worst of the COVID pandemic, how did this Baylor Scott and White The Heart Hospital- Plano CVICU decrease their COVID mortality rates by 30%? Jenelle Sheasby, MSN, RN, tells us about the transformation in their mobility practices. Episode Transcription Kali Dayton  0:35 Okay, I am really excited about this episode, we have been

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Walking Home From The ICU Episode 116 “In Shock” with Dr. Rana Awdish

Walking Home From The ICU Episode 116: “In Shock” with Dr. Rana Awdish

How does a personal fight for life in the ICU impact a survivor-intensivist’s approach to patient care? Dr. Rana Awdish, author of “In Shock”, shares intimate experiences in and after her ICU stay. Episode Transcription Kali Dayton 00:38 Hello, and happy new year! Ending 2022, I am filled with gratitude for such an incredible year

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I stumbled upon Kali’s podcast midway through my anesthesia critical care fellowship in February 2021. At our institution, I got the impression that patients in the ICU either got better on their own or had a prolonged and complicated course to LTAC or death. In her podcast, Kali explained that LTAC was rarely the outcome for patients in the Awake and Walking ICU in Salt Lake City.

Their ICU survivors hardly ever got trached, PEGed, or sent to LTAC, and literally walked out of the hospital in condition as close to their previous health as they could be. Although the concept of using no sedation on ventilated patients was completely foreign to me, it made sense based on what I had read in the literature. I devoured all of the episodes from the beginning, many of them bringing tears and regret for my ignorance, followed by inspiration and hope in later episodes. Listening to her podcast has been one of the most profound experiences in my short, eight-year career in medicine.

After discovering the no sedation, early mobility practice at the Awake and Walking ICU, my focus shifted to bringing it to my own institution. I visited Salt Lake City in March to witness it with my own eyes. Since then, I’ve been in touch closely with Kali and Louise to learn the practical approaches to sedation wean and sedation avoidance for newly intubated patients in the ICU.
Implementation has been challenged by pushback at the bedside, but knowing how most patients can be off sedation and comfortable allowed me to advocate for the patients. So far, four patients were successfully kept off of sedation after getting intubated, and two of them immediately smiled at me as they woke up from induction meds. Kali and the members of the Awake and Walking ICU have decades of experience in this approach.

Mikita Fuchita, MD

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