About The Kit

 What didn’t make the cut?

The Empowered Patient™ Infection Defense Kit contains state-of-the-art, FDA and EPA-approved products, selected and/or developed based on CDC guidelines and recommendations from top medical professionals. The simple products require no medical training to understand and use. The accompanying booklet explains the dangers of hospital-acquired infections, how they are transmitted, and how the tools in the kit can help block these germs from infecting you. The kit does not replace a doctor’s care or advice. In fact you are encouraged to discuss any and all matters addressed here with your health care provider. Simply explain to your caregivers that you are seeking to be a proactive member of your own health care team. While use of no product or products can guarantee you will remain infection-free, the Infection Defense Kit offers you the means to ensure a more hygienic and safer environment…so you can recover and go back home again as soon as possible.   

Each The Empowered Patient™ Infection Defense Kit contains:

• INFORMATIONAL BOOKLET AND HOSPITAL JOURNAL on how to best team with your caregivers. Includes 26 tips on avoiding infections and advice from a renowned patient safety expert on keeping safe in the hospital. Journal lets you or your advocate keep track of events and details during your hospital stay.

•  STAPHACIDE™: (4 oz bottle.) a unique silver-based technology hard surface antimicrobial disinfectant spray with 24-hour residual protection on applied surfaces –proven effective against some of the most dangerous bacteria (including MRSA), viruses, and fungi, yet is safe enough to apply to directly to children's toys. It is odorless, colorless and will not promote antibiotic resistance. To be applied after cleaning above hard surfaces. Patented formula created by Pure Bioscience

• SANITYZE ™ Waterless hospital-grade antimicrobial instant hand sanitizer (4 oz.), kills MRSA in15 seconds. The CDC says rigorous hand hygiene is the most effective guard against hospital-acquired infections. Manufactured by Crosstex, Inc., www.crosstex.com, a leading global manufacturer of infection control and single-use disposable products for the Healthcare Industry.

•  SIGN FOR BEDSIDE TO BE PLACED NEXT TO HAND SANITIZER requesting that all visitors and personnel use hand sanitizer before touching you

• CUSTOM DESIGNED, PATENT-PENDING DISPOSABLE COVERS uniquely designed to accommodate the hospital (wire attached) remote control unit. Tests on hospital remote control units found they were the “germiest” objects in the patient’s room, contaminated with more than 300 kinds of bacteria, including MRSA. These disposable covers can also be used to cover bedside call buttons or other hand-held devices.

• DISPOSABLE BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF BARRIERS. By Tidi Products. A 2006 study in the Journal of Hospital Infection showed that one-third of blood pressure cuffs rolled from room to room carried C. diff spores on the inside of the  cuff.

• INDIVIDUAL-USE HARD-SURFACE ANTIMICROBIAL WIPES Manufactured by PDI inc., PDI, The Healthcare Division of Nice-PakProducts, Inc. Nice-Pak has 50 years of expertise and is the global leader in pre-moistened wipes to the consumer, healthcare, food service and industrial markets. Use: Use to remove grime and buildup from bedside surfaces such as bedrails and tray tables prior to Staphacide™ application.

• INDIVIDUAL-USE BLEACH WIPES, also manufactured by PDI inc. We have recently decided to add bleach wipes to your Infection Defense Kit. These wipes are commonly used in many hospitals to kill resistant bacteria such as C. diff (Clostridium difficile), but they must be handled carefully since bleach is irritating to the skin and can damage delicate surfaces. Always wear gloves when using them and dispose of them carefully. Obviously, we wouldn’t add them if it wasn’t important. A recent study (November 2008) showed that C. diff infections are up to 20 times more common in hospitals than previously thought. C. diff spores left on surfaces from a previous patient can infect you. To date, these spores can only be killed with a dilute solution of bleach. Since there is no simple way of being certain that every hospital room that was contaminated with C. diff spores has been adequately disinfected, we chose to offer you this extra measure of protection. (It is appropriate to discuss this with your caregiver, and ask for a pair of hospital gloves before using your bleach wipes.)

• HIBICLENS™  (Optional add-on) Chlorhexidine Gluconate Solution (4 oz). Antiseptic/Antimicrobial skin cleanser. Doctors often recommend elective surgical patients use this product prior to surgery to cleanse their skin of MRSA. MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that can cause debilitating infections at the surgical site or in any nick or cut in the skin.

What’s NOT in the kit:

The hundreds of products we looked at but that didn’t meet our standards: The hard surface sprays that   made our eyes burn, were not EPA approved or did not offer residual protection from germs. The hand sanitizers that smelled bad, or that smelled good but didn’t contain the recommended 60 % alcohol, or      that had a claim of protection against germs that had not yet received FDA approval. The wipes in packets       were too tiny to tear open, and the wipes we tore open only to have the liquid contents spill all over our    hands. The information in our booklet is the result of thousands of hundreds of hours of research and consultations with hospital infection control specialists and care givers working directly with patients.

Then we printed the booklet in 14-point type, to make the text easier on anxious eyes.      

Why did we take such great care? Because I already lost a loved one. We want yours to be safe.

Hospital-acquired infections are the 4th largest killer in the United States. Your chance of picking up an infection while hospitalized is one in 20. Most of these Infections are preventable

The Empowered Patient™ Infection Defense Kit gives you the tools and information to be a proactive partner with your health care team.   

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