New Handbook Safe & Sound in the Hospital Offers Critical Checklists For Getting Best Care For Your Loved Ones

CHICAGO, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to hospital stays, the rule of thumb is "take someone with you." But think about it: How are any of us really trained to watch out for our loved ones' care in the hospital?

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121113/PH11610 )

*With a 1-in-3 chance for accidental harm or death, it's no wonder everyone seems to have a "hospital story": each one is vivid proof that all of us must know what to look for and what to do to get safe and sound hospital care for the people we love.   

Karen Curtiss learned this the hard way -- and it's why she wrote Safe & Sound in the Hospital: Must-Have Checklists & Tools for Your Loved One's Care, (available on Amazon).  It's the insider's guide she wishes she had when:   

• After a successful lung transplant at a top teaching hospital, her father, Bill Aydt, took a fall that went untreated for 57 hours. This resulted in pneumonia, blood clots, a pulmonary embolism, staph infections, C. diff, bedsores and, more. After 7 months of fighting to live, Bill died from these injuries: he never left the hospital and his new lung never had a chance.
• Three months later, her husband nearly died from sepsis and a deadly staph infection following "routine" surgery. Improper pre- and post-surgery care led to these disastrous results.
• Her 10 year-old son, Alex, would have had completely unnecessary surgery if Karen hadn't questioned an ER doctor's diagnosis – and then hired an ambulance to quickly get to a children's hospital for a second opinion.

Determined to transform her family's tragedies into something positive, Karen's mission is to help others avoid similar fates. She spent years scouring nursing textbooks, slogging through healthcare studies, and talking to patient safety and other medical experts. She studied how hospital care is managed, where gaps occur and best practices for preventing hospital hazards like the ones her family suffered -- many of which are known as "Never Events."

Then she distilled all she learned into quick checklists, simple forms and clever "pullout" tools that make up Safe & Sound in the Hospital. Karen knows, first-hand, that informed family members can fill the 'stress fractures' in hospital care that harm patients.  

Safe & Sound in the Hospital, available on Amazon, is written in simple, 'plain' words with a friend-to-friend tone.  It has just the kind of quick information everyone needs to be confident advocates for their loved ones. Safe & Sound in the Hospital is the guide everyone would want their own advocates to use, too.

*'Global Trigger Tool' Shows That Adverse Events In Hospitals May Be Ten Times Greater Than Previously Measured, David Classen et al, Health Affairs, April 2011, http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/4/581.abstract

Safe & Sound in the Hospital: Must-Have Checklists and Tools is published by PartnerHealth, LLC, which also developed the companion nursing guide, Nursing Tools for Safe & Sound Patient Centered Care (January 2013). Both books are available in bulk to hospitals, payers, employers and other organizations. See www.PartnerHealth.com.  Consumer sales are handled through www.SafeAndSoundBooks.com and www.Amazon.com.

For more information, contact:
Karen Curtiss
PartnerHealth LLC
[email protected]
Telephone: 847.208.6074

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SOURCE PartnerHealth, LLC