Navigating your patients safely through the maze of complex hospital information.

Explaining everything a new patient needs to know in the few minutes allotted is daunting—for you and the patient. But having that information available in writing that’s clear and reliably accurate takes the pressure off you both.

That’s what you get with the Best Practices Patient Guide. Available FREE from Healthy Advice Communications, the Guide is an indispensable tool customized specifically for you and the patient. It makes the job of patient education easier by maximizing your productivity, and enables you to get more done during busy hospital workdays.

At the same time, the Guide gives patients trusted, relevant information necessary for intelligent decision-making and for managing their own care from a hospital bed. It’s “friendly,” written at the sixth-grade reading level, easy to reference, and covers mandated topics, including:

• Speak Up!
• HCAHPS
• Patient Safety
• Your Rights & Responsibilities
• Advance Directives
• The Discharge Process

All content, design, printing, warehousing and shipping are FREE through our publishing agreement. At no cost to you, we will change your text and cover quarterly to keep your Guide fresh.

Contact Donna Beckwith, our Customer Service Manager, to set up a web demonstration. You can reach Donna at 800.643.8037.

Healthy Advice Year-Round Health

H1N1 flu

H1N1 flu is a new type of virus. When the virus was first discovered, it was thought to be similar to a virus usually found in pigs. But now experts know the H1N1 virus is not the same as the swine flu. The H1N1 flu passes from person to person through contact with germs in the air and on surfaces. You cannot get H1N1 flu from eating or touching pork.

There is no need to panic about H1N1 flu, but it is important for you to take steps to protect yourself and your family.

You can do this by learning about the H1N1 flu, talking to your doctor, and following the advice
of public health officials in your area. If you have children, teach them how to take the steps outlined in this handout to prevent H1N1.

Symptoms of H1N1 Flu

The symptoms of H1N1 flu are the same as symptoms of seasonal flu:

• fever

• body aches

• cough

• headache

• sore throat

• chills

• runny or stuffy nose

• fatigue

Some people with H1N1 flu also have diarrhea and vomiting. If you experience any of these symptoms, it is important to call your doctor right away.

How to Protect Yourself from H1N1 Flu

Follow these simple steps every day to protect yourself and others:

USE TISSUES. Cough and sneeze into tissues, and throw those tissues in the trash right away. This will keep germs from passing to surfaces from dirty tissues. If you don’t have tissues handy, cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder—not your hand.

WASH WELL. Wash your hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, especially after you cough or sneeze, and before you eat. When washing your hands, use soap and warm water and slowly count
to 20 before finishing.

DON’T TOUCH! Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth without washing your hands first. This is
how germs spread.

STAY AWAY. Stay away from sick people, and stay home if you are sick. Close contact can put you or others at risk for catching the illness too.

How H1N1 Flu Spreads

H1N1 flu seems to spread the same way seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses pass from one person to another through germs when you cough or sneeze. You can also get the virus from touching something with flu germs on it, like a pen or doorknob, and then touching your mouth or nose. The virus can survive on surfaces and infect you for as long as 8 hours afer being deposited.

With H1N1 flu, you may be able to pass germs to others before you even have symptoms and for more than a week after your symptoms start. This means you can spread H1N1 flu before you know you are sick, and after you get sick. Because of this, it’s important to always take steps to prevent the spread of germs.

What to Do if You Get Sick

If you have any flu symptoms, call your doctor. Your doctor may prescribe antiviral medicines. Antiviral medicines are prescription medicines that fight flu viruses and can help treat H1N1 flu.
If you get sick, antivirals can make your illness milder and not last as long. They can also help prevent flu complications in your sinuses or lungs. Antivirals work best when you take them within two days of symptoms. So call your doctor right away if you have any flu-like symptoms.

If you do get the H1N1 flu, stay home from work or school until your symptoms, including fever of 100°F or more, have been gone for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicines.

You Should Know...

• H1N1 flu has affected people younger than 25 years of age more than than older people.

• Pregnancy and other high-risk medical conditions appear to be associated with increased risk of complications from H1N1. These conditions include asthma, diabetes, suppressed immune systems, heart disease and kidney disease.

• People infected with H1N1 flu may be able to infect others from 1 day before getting sick to 7 days after.

• If you are well but have an ill family member at home with H1N1 flu, you can still go to work or school. Be sure to monitor your health every day, and take everyday precautions.

• Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu

1–800–311–3435

En Español: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/espanol/index

Medline Plus/National Institutes of Health

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/h1n1swineflu

En Español: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/h1n1swineflu

Get Healthy Advice Year-Round Health in your Patient Guide today! Contact Customer Service at 800.643.8037

The World Has Gone Digital. Is Your Patient Guide Still Analog?

Do your patients see your current patient guide as nothing more than a TV guide? The Healthy Advice Best Practice Patient Guide offers so much more. Your patient guide should be a means to increase patient satisfaction, education and quality of care. Our new Guide does just that. It lets you educate patients and caregivers on patient safety, HCAHPS awareness, hospital services, and more.

TV schedules are going the way of the dinosaur. Here’s why:

• With digital TV, the programming schedule is accessible right through the TV screen
• TV schedules in printed guides are not easy to read, especially for elderly patients. Even TV Guide has moved to a large, 8 1/2 x 11 format!
• The changing landscape of health care calls for your guide to work harder—it’s a valuable educational tool that shouldn’t go to waste.

Instead of filling pages in your Guide with a TV schedule, use our template for a channel listing and free up more Guide pages for patient education. We’ll show you how.