Consulting for Families
Sadly, most people are not aware of this, including many of those who work in the ICU. That being the case, when your loved one is in the intensive care unit, the last thing you want to be doing is sifting through scientific papers and trying to figure out how to educate hospital staff on what’s best for your family member.
We believe patients should remain autonomous whenever possible, and clinicians should facilitate meaningful communication with patients and their families to make sure they have a say in the kind of care they’re receiving. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
It can be tough to navigate this situation alone, not least because your own loved one is in the hospital. Let us shoulder some of the burden by giving you the information you need to understand how to improve your loved one’s chances, and the insight on how to apply that knowledge as their patient care advocate.
Through our services, you’ll be able to:
- Understand your role as a loved one in the ICU
- Understand how to improve your family member’s quality of life when they return home
- Learn how to become a patient care advocate for your family member
- Know what can be done to reduce your loved one’s chances of dying or suffering other complications
As an RN in the Medical-Surgical ICU at the hospital I work at, I began my interest in ICU Liberation through an Evidence-Based Practice project.
While I was initially grabbed by what the literature has to say about over-sedation and patient outcomes, it wasn’t until I discovered Kali’s Walking Home From The ICU podcast that a culture of sedationless ICU care sounded tangible. The group I worked with on the project was both inspired, devastated, and intrigued by the stories Kali illuminates on the podcast, and we were able to bring her to our hospital for a virtual Zoom Webinar, where she presented on the practices in the Awake and Walking ICU.
This webinar was an incredible way to draw attention toward this necessary culture shift as Kali shared stories of patients awake and mobile in the ICU despite the complexity of their illness. The webinar inspired our final draft for the new practice guideline on analgesia and sedation management in the ICU, and since then we have seen intubated COVID patients playing tic tac toe on the door with staff members on the other side, taking laps around the unit, performing their own oral care using a hand mirror, and most importantly, keeping their autonomy and integrity while fighting to leave the ICU to resume the life they had before coming in.
Nora Raher, BSN, RN, MSICU
Virginia, USA
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