Infection Control Expert Writes Patient Empowerment Guide

We all assume that going to the hospital will help us recover from an illness or injury. Going to any facility where a lot of other sick people are treated,  however, can result in patients actually getting worse before they get better, simply because they catch someone elses infections. Spread by healthcare workers as they move from sick patient to sick patient or by visitors who may have touched unclean surfaces in the hospital before going into a patients room, these healthcare-acquired infections are difficult and costly to treat. What most people dont know is that healthcare-acquired infections are preventable.

Seeking to empower the patient, Dr. Maryanne McGuckin, an expert in infection prevention, has written a guide that imparts knowledge about how patients can stay healthy when entering a hospital.

McGuckin has served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania for more than 35 years, and is also currently a Senior Scholar in Health Policy Department at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "The Patient Survival Guide" educates readers about the risks of being a patient and the simple precautions they need to take in order to avoid easily preventable healthcare-acquired infections.

Didier Pittet, MD, MD, CBE, director of the Infection Control Program and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety says, "This book is written in simple language to demystify the coded jargon for the layman consumer, but with all the experience of a confirmed and respected healthcare infection control expert.

"The Patient Survival Guide" is published by Demos Health and distributed by Publishers Group West. It is available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and all major bookstores and outlets.