Families with pediatric intensive care rooms or stations at home face several unique challenges. Some of the things that they need to keep in mind is to maintain a sterile environment, and accurately administer medication. And if unforeseen circumstances may occur, they need to be quick in thinking of possible solutions.
Thus, it is important to set emergency protocols in place to prevent worst-case scenarios. To get more information about disaster preparedness, read the article below.
Building Your Emergency Response Team
When opting for at-home care, it’s critical to identify key medical contacts and what roles are needed for these unexpected cases. You can start with pediatric nursing care providers, parents or legal guardians, and physicians. Aside from these individuals, you also need to be aware of local emergency services. It would be advisable to display numbers in visible areas or to save them on your smartphone.
With regards to contacts, parents or primary caregivers should establish an emergency contact hierarchy. This covers who is watching the patient and who they should accordingly call. If it’s the nurse, the first call should be the parents, then the physician. If it’s the sibling, the first call could either be the intensive care nurse, parents, or physician. However, this varies on the case.
Families should identify emergency contacts and train other members on emergency procedures. These steps can cover the things that need to be done and who to call if no healthcare professional is home.
Essential Documentation and Information Management
For families with medically fragile children, it’s important to create an emergency medical information packet. It should contain all the emergency contact information, along with a hierarchy of who to call. It’s best to add a comprehensive list of all the patient’s healthcare providers.
Parents and dedicated at-home nurses should also make sure that this list is updated with the right contact information. This document should contain the patient’s medication list and schedules for those who need to administer medicine when parents or nurses aren’t around.
Other information you can include in the packet are as follows:
- Medical equipment and specifications
- Important medical records and care plans
Equipment and Power Contingency Planning
There are many benefits of at-home care to families and pediatric patients. However, uncontrollable circumstances, like a power outage, may make families doubt this healthcare approach. Fortunately, you can have a power contingency plan in case something unexpected happens.
It’s also advantageous that modern healthcare equipment has backup power solutions for critical devices. That’s why responsible adults should ensure that all regular battery maintenance is conducted and follow testing protocols. If the power takes longer to come back, you can also look into alternative equipment options that do not need electricity.
Parents and caregivers can also look into generator sets to supply the house with electricity during outages. It is worth noting that this may cost a lot of money and require a lot of upkeep. In the event that you need to evacuate due to uncontrolled matters, make sure that you have portable equipment on hand. This is useful for different types of emergency situations.
Emergency Supply Management
In home nursing care, you should constantly manage your emergency supplies. Your at-home nursing care provider can help you guarantee sufficient supply for emergencies. Primary caregivers should always conduct an inventory of medicine, equipment, and other essential supplies to ensure that the patient never runs out of their needed medication.
In this step, it is still important to follow medication stockpile guidelines. Make sure to check the pediatric patient’s medicine and follow the prescribed storage instructions. Supply rotation and expiration tracking are also effective ways to ensure that you have enough medication and equipment.
It’s best that you safely throw out expired medicine. If you’re unsure how to do this, ask your dedicated nursing specialist for recommendations. And one more thing, it would be helpful to have a dedicated emergency supply storage container. Individuals can easily find emergency supplies and the necessary information to administer care with this one.
Developing Emergency Action Plans
There are different pediatric intensive care cases and their respective emergency action plans. As an initiative, make sure to work hand in hand with the dedicated at-home nursing team and your child’s primary care physician on comprehensive protocols. In this way, you are able to create detailed steps for common emergencies.
Additionally, families should have equipment failure contingency plans. Since caring for chronically ill patients can be challenging, it’s best to look into these things as their lives depend on machines to help them feel comfortable.
So, a backup plan when equipment fails is essential. Some of the emergency plans you should consider when worst-case scenario happens are:
- Weather emergencies
- Evacuation procedures and checklists
- Communication protocols during unforeseen situations
Practice and Training
Now that you have everything in writing, it’s time to practice the application process. Conducting regular drills with family members and at-home nurses is beneficial to sufficiently prepare for emergencies. You can also conduct simulation scenarios for different crisis types. This helps every household member know how to act in unexpected circumstances.
In addition, you can update protocols based on the drill outcomes. This is very helpful as you might discover that one approach works better than the existing one. At the end of the day, the patient’s comfort and care should be the priority, especially in medical emergencies.
Community Resource Integration
In at-home emergency scenarios, it’s important to get the patient to the hospital as soon as possible. So, it’s also important to coordinate with your nursing care provider and physician on which hospital to head to during medical crises. In cases like this, always coordinate with local hospitals and work with emergency medical services to immediately address the issue.
You can also connect with nearby pharmacies to build your relationship with the community. This makes the medication acquisition process quicker since they’re just a call away. Moreover, you can also connect with other local families availing of at-home nursing care services for their medically fragile children.
Be Emergency Ready With Nursing Evolutions
At-home pediatric intensive care offers several benefits. However, it also has its limitations like the limited supplies during emergencies. Fortunately, there are ways to adapt and find immediate alternative care solutions.
Fortunately, service providers like Nursing Evolutions offer families several benefits when it comes to at-home pediatric patient care. You don’t have to carry all of it alone as you can rely on our competent nurses who offer 24/7 care.
We specialize in a seamless transition of our pediatric patients into at-home care. So, help reach your child’s best day, every day with us. Get in touch with our team for more!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you’re looking into at-home pediatric intensive care services, here are a few commonly asked questions you might have.
What is pediatric intensive care?
This type of care is where young patients need round-the-clock care for their comfort and survival. Usually, you can see extreme cases of illnesses in young children and are taken care of either in hospitals, or at home.
What do you see in pediatric ICU?
In the pediatric ICU (PICU), you usually see multiple medical equipment attached to young patients. It aims to provide these patients with the highest level of care.