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Patients have a role in controlling infection

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, The Boston Globe, August 29, 2007

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Patients can help protect themselves from hospital-acquired infections by following some simple rules, according to a Boston Globe article and slideshow.

The tips for patients and families include:

• Wash your hands when you enter or leave the patient's room
• Check that the hospital uses clippers instead of a razor to shave the patient before surgery
• Be sure staff members give antibiotic medication to the patient an hour before surgery
• Shower in the morning before surgery
• Be sure the skin around a central line is cleaned with chlorhexidine
• Ask whether all of the lines connected to the patient are still medically necessary
• Be sure to keep sick guests out of the patient's room
• Make sure staff members wash their hands and wear gloves when touching the patient in a way that could spread infection
• Make sure the patient's blood sugar levels are under control before surgery
• Stay warm before and after surgery
• Be sure staff members are cleaning the mouths of patients with ventillators
• Make sure patients with ventilators have their beds set at a 30-degree angle

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