Veteran surgeons operate faster, leading to lower odds of infection. Check to see if your hospital's staff includes a physician trained in hospital epidemiology and whether surgeons are routinely told how often their patients suffer infections. Both policies indicate a smaller risk to patients, as revealed in a 1985 landmark study. But beware of hospital ads that trumpet low rates, which may simply mean the hospital isn't doing good infection surveillance. Once you've checked in, you should keep a sharp eye on your treatment.
Doctors often give patients preoperative antibiotics to cut back on infections during surgery.
The drugs do little good unless they're given close to incision time. So ask to take your antibiotic an hour before surgery instead of the night before, as is the practice in some hospitals. Weinstein's rule is that if an intravenous catheter hasn't been used in 23 hours, it should be removed, since any such invasive device is a conduit for bacteria. If you're in the hospital, you'll probably be in pain. But the infection-control specialists are rooting for you, and your loved ones, to assert yourselves.