By Your Bedside Patient Advocacy

In hospitals alone, the sobering statistics translate into an average of one medication error per patient per day, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report found. And those costly totals don't even begin to include lost wages and productivity. When you're facing a medical, surgical or dental procedure and don't want to face it alone, you do not have to! If you do not have family members or friends who live nearby or are ready to stay with you through a difficult or frightening procedure, you do not have to be alone.