Award Winning Author and Patient Advocate Releases "The Patient Safety Checklist" to Prevent Medical Errors in Hospitals

Surgical safety checklists have been shown to be very effective in significantly reducing fatal medical errors when used by surgeons and members of the surgical team. (See Harvard study.) Martine Ehrenclou, author of the multiple award winning book, Critical Conditions: The Essential Hospital Guide To Get Your Loved One Out Alive, has created "The Patient Safety Checklist" for patients and their advocates to further close the gap on preventing medical errors in hospitals.

Ehrenclou created "The Patient Safety Checklist" for hospitalized patients and their family members to work together with the medical professionals in increasing the likelihood that a hospitalized patient will not fall victim to deadly medical errors. "A collaborative effort is needed," states Ehrenclou. "With the pressure physicians and nurses are currently under, patients and their family members must get involved in the hospitalized patient's medical care."

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Healthcare-Associated Infection: Not on My Watch - Kimberly-Clark Health Care

When someone develops an infection at a hospital or other patient care facility that they did not have prior to treatment, this is referred to as a healthcare-associated (sometimes hospital-acquired) infection (HAI).

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a global crisis affecting both patients and healthcare workers.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at any point in time, 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals.

A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report published in March-April 2007 estimated the number of U.S. deaths from healthcare associated infections in 2002 at 98,987.

The risk of acquiring healthcare-associated infections in developing countries is 2-20 times higher than in developed countries.

Afflicting thousands of patients every year, HAI often leads to lengthening hospitalization, increasing the likelihood of readmission, and adding sizably to the cost of care per patient.

Financially, HAIs represent an estimated annual impact of $6.7 billion to healthcare facilities, but the human cost is even higher.

Until recently, a lack of HAI reporting requirements for healthcare facilities has contributed to less-than-optimal emphasis being placed on eliminating the sources of healthcare associated infections. However, growing public anxiety regarding the issue and resulting legislation on state and local levels demanding accountability is serving to accelerate initiatives to combat HAIs.

To learn more about the impact of healthcare-associated infections for both medical professionals and patients, please visit www.haiwatch.com.
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Not on My Watch Campaign To Eliminate Hospital Acquired Infections

Medical News: Hospital-Acquired MRSA Poses Risk in Home - in Infectious Disease, Infection Control from MedPage Today

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By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today Patients infected with methicillin-resistant Staphlycoccus aureus (MRSA) during a hospital stay risk transferring it to household contacts once they're discharged, French researchers said. In a year-long study, about one in five household contacts of colonized patients were found to have the organism, according to Jean-Christophe Lucet, MD, PhD, of the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris and colleagues. Read More