I read an article today with the headline “1 in 25 patients gets infection in hospital” on cnn.com. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe there will always be a need for hospitals but they literally get people sick. The information comes from research estimates from hospital stays in 2011. The article states that “Patients acquired some 721,800 infections at hospitals that year” and “Of those infected, about 75,000 died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” though the research did not look at how often death resulted from the infection. (1)
The article does state that things overall are improving.
In 2002, there were an estimated 1.7 million health care-associated infections and 155,668 infected-patient deaths. In 98,987 of those deaths, clinicians said the patient’s infection actually caused or contributed to death.(1)
Well that is nice, but approximately 75,000 people a year dying from an infection that they got at the hospital is still terrible. Think about it, if any other product or service were responsible for that many deaths in a year there would be absolute outrage. Yes, I understand that going to the hospital is a little different because people usually go when they are terribly ill or have life-threatening issues. However, this is a case where receiving care at the hospital is doing harm. Now there may be many reasons these infections might happen, and I truly believe that many doctors and nurses are doing their best with what they have. But it is still not acceptable. But what can you do about it? Adopt a healthy lifestyle that makes it less likely for you to need to go to the hospital in the first place.
Whether you realize it or not, YOU are in charge of your health! So what can you do to stay healthier? The answers are probably not surprising. You can eat healthy—eating a variety of minimally processed foods is best. If you don’t know what it is made of, you are probably better off not eating it. You should also get regular exercise. You don’t need a gym membership to exercise. Our bodies are designed to move, and research is continuing to build that a sedentary lifestyle is killing us. You should get adequate sleep and reduce your stress. We would do well to understand that going 24/7 is not what are bodies are designed to do.
One final thing is regular chiropractic care. A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics in 2007 showed those using chiropractic and other alternative medicine approaches used had fewer in-hospital admissions and fewer hospital days. The data came from an independent physicians association (IPA) whose primary care physicians were complementary and alternative health practitioners, many being chiropractors. The results of the study are as follows:
Clinical and cost utilization based on 70,274 member-months over a 7-year period demonstrated decreases of 60.2% in-hospital admissions, 59.0% hospital days, 62.0% outpatient surgeries and procedures, and 85% pharmaceutical costs when compared with conventional medicine IPA performance for the same health maintenance organization product in the same geography and time frame.(2)
So while hospitals will always be necessary, you are better off not needing to go there. You decrease your chances of needing to go there by making healthy choices like eating healthy, getting regular exercise, getting adequate sleep, reducing stress, and getting regular chiropractic care. If you are interested in learning more about chiropractic give my office a call. I work with people just like you to reduce their stress, relieve their pain, and improve their quality of life for years to come.
References
- http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/health/hospital-infections/index.html?hpt=he_c1
- Sarnat RL, Winterstein J, Cambron JA. Clinical utilization and cost outcomes from an integrative medicine independent physician association: an additional 3-year update. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2007 May;30(4):263-9.
