In advance, this article is only as a sharing of experience, does not bear any legal responsibility. I will use pronouns for specific names that appear in the text, so I hope to understand.
Neurosurgery , a very broad meaning, the text specifically refers to brain surgery, and hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage-related diseases. ICU ,(intensive care unit) is intensive care unit. Before I experienced these things, most of the images of ICU in my mind came from clips in TV shows. I thought ICU is a very large, well-equipped, closed and advanced ward. Of course, I knew that ICU wards are very expensive. In reality, due to the limited medical resources of hospitals around the world, most of the cases are multiple critically ill patients*** using the same ward. This ward does not allow family members to accompany the patient and is fully equipped. It is staffed with at least eight nurses per day, in groups of four, rotating in two shifts, day and night, to monitor multiple patients at the same time. The daily cost is about 5-6 K. This is also thanks to the national medical reform, otherwise, in the last year, the same medical expenses, the daily cost is more than 1W, and this is still in the 2nd tier cities, the 1st tier cities of the big hospitals are even more shocking expenses. In addition, ICU ward companion and respiratory equipment, health insurance is not reimbursed. Some imported drugs will not be reimbursed. If the difference in effectiveness is not too great, it is recommended to try to use domestic reimbursable drugs.
In general, no matter how many patients with serious illnesses, they will be crowded in this one room. Of course, none of the patients will stay very long, up to about two weeks. So there's always room for a new patient.
Maybe you're wondering why they won't stay long? One reason is that if the patient does not wake up for a long time, then it is likely that the patient will not be able to do so, or there is a risk of vegetative state. In the former case, the hospital will notify the family to prepare for the aftermath at any time. In the latter case, as the cost is too high for the average family to afford, the patient will be transferred to a regular ward, where he/she will be accompanied by a nurse to continue treatment and observation (please see below for the part on hiring a nurse). The second reason is that if the patient's surgery is successful and his/her symptoms are significantly reduced, he/she will regain consciousness in about a week's time, but will not be fully conscious. At this point, they will also be transferred to a general ward for continued hospitalization.
Before being admitted to the ICU, it is usually to go through major surgery. Then do the surgery, the family will usually take the initiative to find the attending physician to express the mood (here own understanding). I'd like to caution that it's really a benevolent thing to do. You can criticize and you can understand. But when it comes down to it, when it really involves the safety and well-being of someone close to you, often people don't take this into account, it's human nature. But we should trust that most doctors are good doctors and don't intentionally do anything unethical because of this. But if you do show your attending physician that you are in a positive mood to cooperate, then make sure you don't overlook the anesthesiologist, because the anesthesiologist is also a crucial role.
Then after being admitted to the ICU, there are only two outcomes. One is that the patient's condition is in remission, gradually improving. One is the condition continues to be in danger. If the condition is mild, congratulations, you can breathe a sigh of relief. All you need to do is to cooperate with the doctors and nurses and send in the patient's diet and medical supplies on time. Just wait for the patient to wake up and transfer to the general ward to continue treatment. The diet is usually a variety of porridge, noodles, broken up in a blender, fed to the patient by the nurse, or fed directly into the patient's stomach through the esophagus. Of course, it is up to the nurse to decide how much or how little to feed. Although there is a standard feeding dose, usually 300 ml, every time the patient eats one more bite, the family members will show it off to other patients' families as if the child got a perfect score in the exam. Here is an interesting phenomenon, generally in the ward outside the escort, often more than one of your family members, family members and other family members of the patient, it is easy to because of the same disease, or the same enemy, and each other to talk to each other, each other to cheer, in a short period of time, will be mixed with the more familiar.
Another situation is not optimistic, that is, the patient has not been out of danger. This time as a family member should be more careful. Because the patient long-term coma, not only is the condition of the danger. In addition, the human body long-term bedridden, will produce bedsores, breathing difficulties, numbness of the limbs and other symptoms. But the family can not directly accompany the nurse, so can not help any help. They can only rely on the nurses to take care of them. Then if the nurses are more attentive to your patient more turn over the back, diligently rub some talcum powder, diligently massage the limbs, a little attention to the patient's breathing and heart rate. Then all these symptoms of the patient will be greatly reduced. Therefore, you also need to be smart, pay attention to who the nurses are, and look for opportunities to also show their positive cooperation mood. These things are out of the hands of the doctor. You can only get help from the nurses. So I know that after I expressed my eagerness to cooperate, the nurses took better care of my dad, shaving his beard and wiping his saliva. The nurse will also say a few more words every time I ask for some advice on my condition.
The next thing I want to talk about is the transfer to the general ward. I have seen a patient, in the ICU condition has been significantly improved. After being transferred to the general ward, an escort was also hired to accompany him. At the beginning, the recovery was quite good. But not two days later, the condition suddenly worsened, and in the middle of the night, the rescue was ineffective, and the person went straight away. So, if the patient's condition is mild, then you can ignore this paragraph. But if the patient's condition is already very serious, then transfer to the general ward should not be taken lightly. Because, the general ward equipment and ICU equipment is a world of difference, there will be other patients and patients' families in the ward, if the environment is more cluttered, in fact, very unfavorable to the serious patients to rest. So here is a way, is that you can find the head nurse in advance, consult the availability of small wards. Small wards are usually 4 beds, 2 for patients and 2 for family members. In other words, this ward is for two patients and their families, with two beds for each family, one for the patient to rest, and one for the family to rest. With fewer people, the environment is naturally less cluttered. However, compared to a large ward, the cost is twice as high. And the large ward, usually 8 beds, living 8 patients, plus caregivers and family members, about 16-20 people.
Let's talk about the caregivers. Generally, patients transferred from ICU need to hire caregivers. Nurses are recommended by the head nurse to the patient's family, and generally hospitals do not allow foreign nurses to accompany the patient. The reason is that outsiders are not easy to manage and are not professional. But in fact, this is also a disguised monopoly. The nurse recommended by the head nurse, the cost is about 400 per day. They are available 24 hours a day. Of course, at night, the nurse will also sleep, and if the patient has any abnormality, the nurse will also deal with it at the first time. At the same time, the family also needs to leave a person to accompany. Then we have to ask, what is the point of hiring a nurse? Because when it comes to caring for patients, there are certain techniques and skills that we ordinary people may not always know. For example, monitoring the patient's breathing, monitoring the heart rate, monitoring the blood pressure, giving the patient a back massage, feeding the patient, cleaning up the feces, and so on.
Finally, let's talk about the doctor's daily checkups. ICU wards usually don't allow family members to visit, but only at 8:00 am every morning, when the doctor checks on each patient's post-surgical recovery, one by one. At that time, a family member will be allowed to enter the room to visit the patient with the doctor, who will briefly introduce the patient's various conditions to the family. I have seen one family member, I guess it is a rich family. Usually in the ICU ward, there is always a large group of people accompanying the patient, and the food is all kinds of sumptuous. The way they talked and behaved was also ostentatious and domineering. Especially disgusting is that every morning visitation, other patients' families are a visitation quota. His family is the exception, every time there are two or three, fish in a row. When his family is done visiting, it's the other family members' turn to visit. There is a Dr. H here who often opens the door wide.
Plus the daily checkups in the general ward, every day a nurse pushes a trolley and comes to do the checkups and lab tests for the patients. All kinds of test strips, all kinds of small utensils. Every test costs money, but not every test is necessary. For example, after a patient with a brain hemorrhage recovers and is transferred to a general ward for treatment, he or she will be checked daily for blood pressure, blood sugar, heart, liver, kidneys, and so on. But here it is not really necessary to check blood sugar, or liver. As a family member, you have the right to consult with doctors and nurses. If you don't consult, you are defaulting to all the checks, and after consulting, the doctor will tell you what can be left out. This saves some unnecessary overhead.
Some more gossipy things about life.
I've seen a family whose patient recovered stably after being transferred from ICU. The family was so happy that they gave the doctor a banner to thank him. The majority of doctors will like the banner, because it is not only the high praise for their medical skills, medical ethics, but also will affect their salary and title evaluation. But this incident I am talking about is a bit sad. The family sent the banner soon, the patient's condition suddenly deteriorated, the rescue is gone.
There are other things, as a matter of fact, every family is anxious, every day looking forward to the patient's early recovery. But I've seen a family, every visit is missing. The patient was thrown into the ICU, and the family members left without leaving, as if it was none of their business. Until the time of reminding the medical bills, only two or three family members came. Later realized that the original patient's children do not care, afraid to spend money. The first time I saw this, I was able to find a way to get to the hospital, and I was able to get to the hospital to pay the bill, and I was able to get to the hospital to pay the bill.
There are some other people and things, it is not convenient to talk about. In short, if you want to experience life, you don't have to go to the north and south of the world, walking the streets. Just find a hospital and stay for five or six days. You will see all kinds of sorrows and joys on earth. I accompanied the ICU ward outside the whole 10 days, on average, every day to pull away a patient who could not be rescued, some patients go when the wailing of the sky, some patients go when the silence. But the same is, see more, the human nature of the strange and numb.