Recently, a relative of mine lost his wife to a hospital-acquired infection after a successful cancer surgery. She had been expected to make a full recovery from the cancer.Such infections are on the rise. A recent media report states that a drug-resistant form of staphylococcus, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA), may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital and nursing home patients. This rate is about ten times the rate previously estimated.
What can you do to protect yourself or a loved one during a hospital stay? Some tips include asking staff and visitors to wash their hands often and asking the doctor to wash any stethoscopes used. Before a surgery, be sure to ask your surgeon about the hospital's infection rate, about showering or bathing daily with chlorhexidine soap three to five days before the surgery and about the necessity of an antibiotic treatment an hour before the surgery.
My relative who suffered this tragic, unnecessary loss of his wife has started a non-profit organization to educate the public, ODEE PD Health Safety Initiative. From the ODEE educational materials, perhaps the most important piece of advice on how to protect ourselves, changing our attitude:
Protecting ourselves begins with changing our mindset. Maybe we are not accustomed to speaking up! Much as we are impressed by the care our doctors and hospitals can give us, we must not be timid about letting them know our concerns for safety in the hospital.
Today, more than ever, we need to speak up and speak out. We cannot accept the fact that deadly hospital infections exist and threaten our safety. We can be polite, but also must be very firm and persistent. We cannot be shy or feel funny about speaking up.
For more tips on how to protect you or a loved one against hospital-acquired infection, see HospitalInfections.org, Protecting Yourself.
1. Immunostimulation would be a tremendous asset for defeating infections. It is held to be beyond our reach, a tragic misconception.
Lieb,J."The immunostimulating and antimicrobial properties of lithium and antidepressants." J Infection (2004) 49(2) 88-93.
Lieb,J."Lithium and antidepressants: stimulating immune function and preventing and reversing infection." Medical Hypotheses 2007;69(1):8-11. Epub 2007 Feb 6. Over the past twenty five years I have published ten articles on the resisted paradigm shift. It is highly unlikely that other agents would have these properties.
Sincerely,
Julian Lieb,M.D
Posted at 2:30PM on Jun 28th 2007 by Julian Lieb,M.D