Every critical care patient is a unique individual. We admit many patients to critical care with the same diagnosis, yet each patient will have a different overall response and experience. A patient's age, prior state of health or the presence of other medical conditions will influence the progress. We need to know as much as possible about our patient's health and medication history so that we can customize their medical plan.
As soon as your family member is admitted to CCTC, you will be asked about their past medical history and whether they have any allergies. This information is very important to our team so that we don't miss anything important. You will also be asked for a current list of medications.
In addition to knowing the medications that have been ordered for your family member, we need to know if your family member has been taking the medication recently. If you don't know your family member's current medication list, it will help us to know the name of your family member's pharmacy (or pharmacies) and their family doctor. This information will help us to check to see if any of your family member's symptoms could be related to their medications, or if there are any medications that need to be continued when they are critically ill. Your family member's pharmacy and family doctor should also have allergy information.
It also helps the healthcare team to know how your family member usually copes with stress. If they had difficulty before their admission, they may need extra help during their recovery. For example, knowing any strategies that your family member uses to manage symptoms of anxiety or depression may be helpful when planning your family member's care. Patients who regularly use recreational drugs, alcohol and tobacco may experience withdrawal symptoms that we may need to manage. If you have information that might help us to care for your family member, please let your family member's nurse or a physician know.
About Me Poster
In addition to learning health information about your family member, we want to know about your family member as a person. Please complete the About Me poster as soon as your family member is admitted. This information can help us to begin a conversation with your family member when they are unable to speak. Former patients have told us that seeing their own information on the poster helped to reorient them and know they were "going to be okay" when they began to reawaken
Help us to Get to Know our Patients Questionnaire
We also would like to know about your family member's values and beliefs about their health care. You will be asked to complete a questionnaire called Help us to Get To Know Our Patients after your family member has been in the CCTC for a couple of days. If your family member is capable of answering the questions, we would want the patient to complete the form. If your family member cannot participate, we ask you to answer the questions along with the other members of your family who would be able to answer the way that your family member would answer the questions.
