Monday, March 28, 2011
What to do when your loved one needs critical care
Critical care units (also known as intensive care units) are specialized units where highly-trained nurses take care of one or two patients at a time. These patients are usually very ill and often require life-support machines or medications that nurses must monitor closely.
Whether a patient is in the critical care unit (CCU) as part of an expected plan of recovery, or from a sudden, traumatic experience, such as a cardiac arrest or motor-vehicle accident, it can be overwhelming for both the patient and the family. Here are a few tips to help make the experience less upsetting:
• Visiting hours. Due to the intensive care that patients receive and the highly sensitive nature of many procedures and assessments, visiting hours are often restricted to certain times of the day. For the protection of the patient and the family, visitation is often limited to family members only and usually only two visitors at a time may be in the room. Occasionally, nurses may ask visitors to wait in the waiting room during report or while they perform assessments or procedures that may be uncomfortable for family members to witness.
• Name a spokesperson. Communication is essential when a patient is critically ill. It is important for the doctors and nurses to receive accurate information from the family, but it is also important for the family to receive consistent communication from the doctors and nurses, while still protecting the patient’s privacy. Having a spokesperson is the best way for both parties to maintain communication. Speaking with the same person throughout the patient’s stay in the CCU ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding the patient’s plan of care. This spokesperson would then pass on information to the rest of the family and any close friends. This ensures that nurses are able to spend more time caring for the patient and less time answering questions to multiple family members on the phone.
• Don’t focus on the bells and whistles. Walking into a critical care room can be nerve-wracking with all those alarms beeping and lights blinking. We want family members to be part of the healthcare team and speak up if you think something isn’t right. However, don’t get lost watching the monitors – your most important job is to be there for your loved one. They need your emotional support more than anything and you are the best one to provide that. Listening to alarms beep can be scary, but the nurses are trained and highly skilled to handle that aspect of the care. Do what you do best, which is caring about your loved one.
• Take care of yourself, too. It is perfectly natural to want to be there every waking moment for your loved one. But it is important to protect your own health as well. Make sure you are still eating, drinking, taking your medications and getting plenty of rest. Reach out to support systems, such as friends or clergy members for your own emotional support. You will be of no help to your loved one if you end up admitted to the hospital as well.
As a family member, you are an important part of the healthcare team for your loved one. It is our hope that these tips will help improve your experience as your loved one recovers in the CCU. To learn more about the Backus CCU and view a video on what to expect, visit www.backushospital.org/ccu
Megan Mooney is a registered nurse in the The William W. Backus Hospital Education Department. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. If you want to comment on this column or others, visit the Healthy Living blog at www.backushospital.org/backus-blogs or e-mail Ms. Mooney or any of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org
