Staying Safe -- In The Hospital

(CBS)  Two million Americans every year pick up an infection every year in hospitals.

But there are things you can do to cut down on the risk you face should you have a hospital stay.

On The Early Show Tuesday, Dr. Michael Stewart, an ear, nose and throat specialist, talked about the six most common hospital-induced medical problems, and how to minimize the danger to you.

Medication Errors:, as happened with actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins.

"The most important thing you can do," Stewart says, "is make sure everything you were on before you came into the hospital, the doctors and health care team know about that, so that, if you should stay on your medications, you should stay on them. Also, you should be aware, when people come in to give you medication, if you think, 'Should I be getting this?' you should ask the question and make sure you're getting the appropriate things. There's a lot of medications given in hospitals and it's a complicated situation. So be aware. ... A lot of patients sort of assume, 'Oh, the doctors must know what I was taking.' Don't make that assumption."

Infection by Bacteria or Viruses: "The highest risk here is actually around surgical procedures," Stewart says, "and unfortunately, that's just an inherent risk of an invasive surgical procedure. Hospitals do their best to try to prevent that. An important thing hospitals can do is very good hand hygiene, hand washing before and after all contacts with patients. So patients should watch that in fact their doctors and nurses and health care providers are doing hand hygiene."

Pneumonia:

"It's actually the No. 3 three most common infection," Stewart points out, "and it's often after surgery or after injuries or when patients are in ICU (the Intensive Care Unit), when they're not able to breathe deeply and cough and clear their secretions. So, taking a lot of deep breaths and trying keeping your lungs clear is helpful."

Deep Vein Thrombosis:, when the blood pools because you've been lying there a long time

"The risks of DVT," Stewart says, "are increased if you're a smoker, if you're overweight, if you've had a long procedure or an abdominal or pelvic or lower extremity procedure. The things to do here are, as soon as you can, get up and get mobile, or if you can't get out of bed, pump your feet up and down, pump your calf muscles, pump the muscles in your legs, contract them back and forth to try to get the blood flowing.

Bleeding After Surgery:

"This is another inherent risk of surgery," Stewart notes, "but the main risk here is actually if you were taking a medication that people were not aware that you were taking, like aspirin, which can actually be a factor. Patients don't think of that as a medication sometimes."

Anesthesia complications:

"That's extraordinarily rare," Stewart says, "and the highest risk of having a complication of anesthesia is if you or your family has had a complication in the past."

[wl7bzh]

The biggest hospital safety may be your bill. In my opinion, overcharges, charges for service ordered but not performed, and downright fraud cost patients and insurers more than realized.

Cost inflation plus pressure on hospital staff to be "team players" by accepting unsafe patient load makes the average hospital in my opinion about as safe as downtown Iraq.

[jondruch]

As a nurse what Dr.M.Stewart is correct, but on the hygiene this has to be both staff and family. As family being young or old come in and visit and bring in their infections that they have been exposed to as well as to any infections that there friends have been as well. So hand wash is key for EVERYONE not just staff.

[sjw1253]

I would like to add another major safety issue...

If a patient suffers from a chronic illness and has frequent admissions - the doctors tend to become desensitized and have a tendency to overlook many things.

Personally, I suffer a chronic rare disease that makes it worse. ER staff of the regular hospital I am admitted doesn''t want my knowledge and make their own decisions.

The last time I was admitted (1 month ago) - I came in by ambulance due to severe back pain. My doctor was in touch with me and even called my cell phone while I was in the ER.

The ER staff put me on a surgical service and did not contact my physician. They treated me for my pain and sent me home despite the fact that I gave them my history of lesions in my spine.

2 weeks later - my ortho-spine MD diagnosed me with a compression fracture of my T12 spine. I could have been paralyzed.

I do not only blame the ER staff but my primary MD as well. I don''t know if he is too busy or has become desenstized - doesn''t know what to do for me...

I feel as though he has given up on me and if I die or become totally disabled (paralyzed) - it was meant to be since they don''t know what to do...

It is scary and I really need to re-think my primary MD and the hospital I am using. It has been over 8 years now and they used to be great - but now I think I need to change.