The Patient Survival Guide: 8 Simple Solutions to Prevent Hospital and Healthcare-associated Infections

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 1.7 million people developed healthcare acquired infections in 2010. Since most people spend only a small part of their lives in healthcare facilities, this guidebook also tells readers how to avoid picking up serious infections in day care centers, schools, business offices, and other common locations.

Unlike other books, which focus on how to change the hospital systems, The Patient Survival Guide focuses on empowering you with the knowledge and techniques to ensure a safer healthcare experience.

The Patient Survival Guide:

• Inspires you to be a your own advocate
• Describes in vivid detail how your preparation and informed vigilance can significantly reduce the chances of harm and death to your loved one in a hospital
• Provides specific, practical, and outside-the-box strategies for anticipating and preventing errors, with chapters devoted to each of the most common mistakes and mishaps
• Provides checklists for patients to use upon admission to healthcare facilities

Maryanne McGuckin, Sc, Ed is a Senior Scholar in Health Policy Department at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dr. McGuckin's specialty is infection control and hospital epidemiology.

Toni L. Goldfarb is a medical journalist whose writings have appeared in numerous professional and consumer publications.

Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, is a critical care specialist at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.