The Patient's Checklist: 10 Simple Hospital Checklists to Keep You Safe, Sane, and Organized

by Elizabeth Bailey

Overview

"A godsend for concerned friends and relatives trying to rein in the chaos."
-The New York Times



Whether you're addressing the rising chaos of a pandemic or preparing for a scheduled surgery, having checklists prepared to guide you through a hospital visit can often mean the difference between comfort and pain, personal and distant care—and even life or death.


In today's hospital system, you can face a series of perplexing obstacles to satisfactory care, from overworked healthcare providers to understaffed facilities—which are heightened in times of crisis. You need to know how to take charge of your own healthcare; Elizabeth Bailey shows you how to do just that with a series of essential, easy-to-use checklists to better manage, monitor, and participate in your own healthcare, including: Before You Go, What to Bring, Master Medication List, Discharge Plan, and more.


It is more important than ever to have a protocol, including a detailed plan for hygiene and communications while hospitalized. You can trust the medical staff, but you also need to trust yourself or a loved one to be your own best advocate. Newly revised and completely up-to-date, The Patient's Checklist shows you how.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306924651
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	340,426
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

A former producer, director, and vice president of video production for several major record labels, Elizabeth Bailey holds a Master's in Health Advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College and works as a patient representative. She lives in New York with her husband and son.

Table of Contents

Prologue: How I Came to Write This Book xi

Introduction 1

How to Use the Checklists 7

The Checklists

1 Before You Go 11

2 What to Bring 27

3 During Your Stay 35

4 Master Medication List 45

5 Daily Medication Log 61

6 Daily Journal 77

7 Discharge Plan 101

8 Insurance 113

9 Doctor Contacts 123

10 Family & Friends Contacts 135

Resources 145

Introduction Statistics Sources 151

Index 153

About the Author 161

Editorial Reviews

"Elizabeth Bailey's book could save your life. I've been pushing for people to understand how checklists work and can be made to empower them. Bailey has done precisely this for patients—that is, for all of us."—Atul Gawande, New York Times bestselling author of The Checklist Manifesto

"Elizabeth Bailey's book puts a human face on the devastating toll medical errors have on patients and their families, and clearly shows that when we use checklists to improve the quality of care, we save lives. I have seen the power of this important tool; using checklists in a hospital setting, we nearly eliminated bloodstream infections, a preventable disease that kills about as many people every year as breast cancer. Imagine what the simple checklists in this book can do for you."—Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, co-author, with Eric Vohr, of Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals: How One Doctor's Checklist Can Help Us Change Health Care from the Inside Out

"The Patient's Checklist should be in the hands of all families in the event of a hospital stay. The information could save your or a loved one's life."—Christiane Northrup, M.D., ob/gyn physician and author of the New York Times bestsellers Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

"A godsend for concerned friends and relatives trying to rein in the chaos. Bravo to [Bailey] for turning that all too common misery to a constructive end."—The New York Times

"Elizabeth Bailey learned what could go wrong in a hospital the hard way: by watching her elderly father endure a long in-patient nightmare. Six years later, she has turned that system into a book."—USA Today

"Check this out before checking in: if you go in prepared...you can better advocate for your own well-being."—Washington Post

"The Patient's Checklist aims to guide patients safely through every stage in a hospital stay, starting before you arrive and continuing on through that crucial transition phase in care when you leave the hospital for home or rehab. 'It's not brain surgery to learn to become more involved in your care,' says Bailey. 'The book gives an idea for a framework and helps with how to ask questions.'"—NPR

"Medication mistakes and communication failures can make hospital care riskier than it needs to be. These tips will help patients get the compassion they need."—Reader's Digest

"The Patient's Checklist [is] a book of 10 checklists that address many of the essentials for a hospital stay, including sections on what to bring with you, medication management, how to make your hospital stay safer and more comfortable, and planning for your discharge."—MSNBC

"Prepare for your hospital stay: Elizabeth Bailey, author of The Patient's Checklist, says going through simple checklists can make an unexpected hospital visit go smoothly."—USA Weekend

From the Publisher