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You
need surgery - perhaps a new
hip, tumor removal, a face lift,
or repair of an ACL.
Used to be you would show up at
the hospital hours before your
surgery, where you would be
prepped, anesthetized, the
surgery would take place, then
you’d begin your recovery.
Nurses attended your every need.
While the overall
process hasn’t changed much in
recent years, the details and
outcomes have. Unfortunately,
some of those changes are
deadly.
The most
dangerous change is the increase
in hospital infections. You’ll
recognize some of their names
like MRSA (“mer-suh”, also
called staph) and C.Diff. These
infections kill at least 100,000
of the 1.7 million Americans who
are infected in hospitals each
year, many of them surgery
patients.
You may
recently have heard about
another, newer infection called
CRKP (Carbapenem-resistant
Klebsiella pneumonia.) CRKP is
killing up to 44 percent of
hospital patients who have
contracted it in 36 states,
including New York.
I
hope this alarms you – it
should! Enough to take some
responsibility for preventing
these infections for yourself or
a loved one who may need
surgery.
Here’s how:
Begin by choosing hospitals
and surgeons with the lowest
infection rates. The US
Department of Health and Human
Services offers a website that
can give you some of that
information at
Hospital Compare.
Prepare ahead by asking your
surgeon about prescriptions for
pre-surgery antibiotics, or
special germ-killing soaps to
use during pre-surgery showers.
Pack to prevent infections,
too. Take bleach-based
antiseptic wipes and sprays to
clean hospital room surfaces
where germs reside, like the
bedside table, the hospital bed
rails, the telephone, TV remote,
bathroom surfaces and doorknob.
A germ-filtering mask might stop
germs that travel through the
air, like those that cause
pneumonia or upper-respiratory
diseases.
Most deadly
infections are spread by
touching. So the most important
step is insisting that everyone
wash their hands before touching
you, and before touching
something that will then touch
you, like a stethoscope (which
should also be sanitized.)
Hospital providers know full
well they should wash their
hands, but they aren’t always
diligent about it. Don’t be
afraid to remind them, or even
nag them about it.
Then
be sure an advocate sits by your
bedside for those times you are
sleeping or drugged and can’t
stay on top of your own
infection control.
It’s
more important than ever that
patients and their advocates
work to prevent hospital
infections.
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