Walking From ICU Episode 71 What “Fight To Survive” Truly Means

Walking Home From The ICU Episode 71: What “Fight To Survive” Truly Means

When an ICU team started discussing end-of-life with 31-year-old Megan Wakley’s family, they fought to have her transferred to the “Awake and Walking ICU”. When research shows that the less sedation used and the more mobility performed the less likely patients are to die, what did that mean for Megan Wakely?   Episode Transcription Kali

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Walking Home From The ICU Episode 62: Patient and Families Have the Right to Know the Risks

We say we respect patient autonomy. We provide patients or families informed consent prior to intubation. Should patients and families be warned of the risks and repercussions of sedation and immobility? When sedation is nonessential, should patients be given the choice to be comatose or awake and moving?   Episode Transcription Kali Dayton 0:19 If

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ICU testimonialI 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.

Mikita Fuchita, MD
Colorado, USA

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