When I was eager to convey the fears experienced by many patients who were sedated in the intensive care unit, the case study I published did not have a particularly happy outcome.

So far, the cases I have described in detail either die, or suffer from insanity under sedation, or have to go a long way to recover.

Nevertheless, I think it would be a good idea to start publishing more positive stories about how intensive care internships really help improve patient outcomes in the ICU.

I think that, so far, this happy ending has ignored the importance of people’s correct view of things.

They provide an additional context to try to counteract all tragedies, and provide an encouraging comparison for ICU patients to show how they want to be treated.

The case I want to describe involves a man whose experience in the ICU provides a sharp example of how to improve the outcome of ICU patients based on evidence.

If he received typical treatment in most intensive care units, the results of entering the intensive care unit will not only change greatly, but also be worse.

Fortunately, things did not develop like this. The treatment based on the evidence he received restored the quality of life before hospitalization in the ICU.

I’m talking about Dr. Kenneth Harvetz, his story.

How to improve Kenneth’s quality of life through certification management

Kenneth suffered from acute respiratory failure caused by covid-19. After intubation, he was sent to a highly sensitive “conscious walking COVID ICU”.

For the first 6 days of using the respirator, he can get up and walk around the room. Even so, he mostly sat in a chair, wrote on the blackboard, and sent text messages to the staff and his wife.

When his condition changed and his lungs became worse, he took a mild sedative two days ago and then a deep sedative for six days. Because he can’t oxygenate sit ups.

Kenneth returned to the world of weakness and illusion after eight days of floating, including two days of paralysis and four days of calm and fear.

But as long as he can lie down, the nurse will give him a real holiday to see if he can replenish oxygen through exercise.

although his respiratory tract setting and fiber net remained high, with the movement of his limbs, oxygenation could be carried out, and his nurse realized that there was no longer any sign of sedation. At this point, she requested physical therapy to stop his sedatives and help him flash and restless. They immediately began to make him sit down and try to make him stand up again.

After his liberation from the tranquilizer, he continued to fantasize and hallucinate. Fortunately, the activities and participation in the ICU helped him cope with and get rid of his insanity.

The ICU team members treating Kenneth are committed to adhering to these proven practices, that is, doing their best to help Kenneth stay awake and active while using the ventilator.

Improve ICU mobility

Mobility of icu

Icu plug and mobility

The ICU team members who treated Kenneth expressed their condolences for losing the opportunity to walk around the hall with the intubated patients.

But they found other ways to keep Kenneth moving around the room door to door, cycling with their arms and hands, etc.

The cardiopulmonary challenge from hospitalization to discharge in ICU can prevent intubation and trachea structure, and patients are more likely to leave the ICU and go home.

However, if Kenneth did not act immediately from the moment of deep sedation and intubation and received the care of most intensive care units, he would suffer from fibrotic reticulum and muscle atrophy for at least three weeks.

This may lead to inability to escape from the respiratory tract, so tracheostomy may be required. It may take more days or weeks to ventilate, or it may ensure that a nursing institution needs to be hospitalized for extensive recovery.

This will greatly increase his risk of death, and he can only endure recovery for weeks or months at most.

But he received groundless treatment. After he could lie on his back again for four days, he could turn off the respirator. Then 10 days after he got off the ventilator, he went to his car and closed the door without looking back.

He continued to recover at home. Fortunately, he was able to take care of himself and his wife together.

In addition, he can quickly resume the activities he liked before he was infected with covid-19.

If you want to know more about Kenneth, you can see the 44th episode of my podcast “Coming Home from the ICU”.

Before ICU recovery and improvement

How is Kenneth now?

Full recovery of icu

Less than 6 weeks after discharge, Kenneth can do 25 push ups and 30 sit ups. He also achieved the goal set for his 70th birthday and finally played 18 holes of golf.

Two months after his discharge, he could walk eight miles on the golf course. A few months later, he went down the mountain gracefully in the snow of Utah.

He is still struggling with the pulmonary fibrosis caused by covid-19, but his physical and mental ability makes him live a life that many survivors of covid-19 can only dream of.

If Kenneth received the typical treatment in most intensive care units, I have no doubt that the situation will change greatly, and the quality of life he enjoys today will not.

In short, his positive results and long-term quality of life are by no means accidental.

Through the hard work of the team, they try to avoid deep composure and follow the mature practice of optimizing the initial walking and action ability.

In this “awakening and walking COVID ICU”, these results are the daily state of most COVID survivors.

However, the ability to save and save lives during critical illness is not limited to ICUs.

Medicine is an evolutionary and progressive field. The practice and results I described in this case study are possible for all ICU teams that understand its “why” and work together to find its “how”.

Would you like to know more about how to reduce ICU complications and improve the prognosis of patients in ICU? If the ICU team is ready to improve the results, workload and medical expenses, they are ready to help. Please do not hesitate to contact us, because we can guide you through the whole process.