Patient Safety

You go to the hospital to get well, right? Of course, but did you know that patients can get infections in the hospital while they are being treated for something else? Here are ten things you can do to be a safe patient.

Each year, patients get nearly 2 million infections in the hospital. And there are nearly 100,000 deaths associated with these infections. This makes healthcare-associated infections one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

These infections are not limited to hospitals. In the past 10 years alone, there have been more than 30 outbreaks of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in non-hospital healthcare settings like outpatient clinics, dialysis centers, and long-term care facilities.

CDC is working to prevent healthcare-associated infections. For more than 30 years CDC has published best practice infection control guidelines for healthcare providers. CDC encourages patients to become involved in their care as well.

Here are 10 ways to be a safe patient:

1. Wash hands.
   To avoid spreading germs, ask visitors, family members and healthcare providers to wash their hands before touching your body.
2. Ask if you still need a central line ( 191KB, 1 page) catheter or urinary ( 226KB, 1 page) catheter.
   Leaving a catheter in place too long increases the chances of getting an infection.
3. Ask your healthcare provider, "will there be a new needle, new syringe, and a new vial for this procedure or injection?"
   Healthcare providers should never reuse a needle or syringe on more than one patient.
4. Be Careful with medications.
   Avoid taking too much medicine by following package directions. Also, to avoid harmful drug interactions, tell your doctor about all the medicines you are taking.
5. Get Smart about antibiotics.
   Help prevent antibiotic resistance by taking all your antibiotics and not sharing your antibiotics with other people. Remember that antibiotics don’t work against viruses like the ones that cause the common cold.
6. Prepare for surgery. ( 207KB, 1 page)
   There are things you can do to reduce your risk of getting a surgical site infection.
7. Watch out for C. diff. (aka Clostridium difficile) ( 179KB, 1 page)
   Tell your doctor if you have severe diarrhea, especially if you are also taking an antibiotic.
8. Know the signs of MRSA.
   Know what a MRSA skin infection looks like. If you are a hospital patient ( 216KB, 1 page), find out if you are at risk for getting a MRSA hospital infection.
9. Get your flu shot.
   Protect yourself against the flu and other complications by getting vaccinated.
10. Speak up.
    Talk to your doctor about any worries you have about patient safety and ask them what they are doing to protect you.

By following these 10 steps you can help make healthcare safer and help prevent healthcare-associated infections.

Here are some of the things CDC is doing to help keep you safe:

The prevention of healthcare-associated infections is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CDC provided significant input on the HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections, which establishes national goals for healthcare-associated infection prevention and outlines key actions for achieving identified short- and long-term objectives.

Furthermore, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 (ARRA) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. Within the ARRA, $50 million was authorized to support states in the prevention and reduction of healthcare-associated infections. CDC will be administering $40 million of these ARRA funds to support state health departments in HAI prevention activities. Many of these funds will be used to support activities outlined in the HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections.

CDC acknowledges the work of several partners who are helping to make healthcare more safe:

American Hospital Association (AHA)

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

Consumer’s Union

Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)

Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)

The Joint Commission

Safe Care Campaign

Safe Injection Practices Coalition

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)