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
My dad came down with COVID pneumonia at the end of September. We did our best to treat him at home but eventually we realized we needed to get him to a hospital. After about four days in the hospital on oxygen he crashed and needed to be put on a ventilator. We were devastated.
When they put a person on a ventilator, hospital protocol generally is to sedate and paralyze the patient. My dad was sedated and paralyzed for a total of about 17 days. He was completely immobilized. One doctor told us that my dad had one of the worst cases of COVID pneumonia he had seen in a long time. We were, of course, extremely worried. As time went on, his condition worsened. Through a series of miracles, my dad stabilized enough that they were able to give him a tracheostomy. This was the turning point where he was able to get transferred to a LTAC facility (which is a critical care facility for COVID patients).
Fortunately, through a friend, we were put in touch with Kali Dayton. We were told she has had amazing success helping people come down off sedation and the paralytic. One of the side effects of sedation is the patients experience extreme delusions and hallucinations. While we were at the LTAC, Kali was extremely helpful in helping us understand the importance of getting my dad off the paralytic and sedation quickly. She informed us that every day he was on the sedation added weeks onto his recovery. We began pressuring the staff at the LTAC to get him off the sedation. Kali has found that it is critical to get a ventilated patient up and moving and you can’t unless they are off sedation. The staff at the LTAC were very hesitant to take my dad off sedation, at times even telling us he was off it, when in fact, he was still on sedation.
Heidi Lanthen
Utah, USA
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