To Safely Use Antibiotics

• Don’t take an antibiotic prescribed for someone else.
• Take an antibiotic exactly as the doctor tells you.
• Don’t save some of your antibiotic for the next time you get sick.
• Ask your doctor whether an antibiotic is likely to be beneficial for your illness.
• Ask your doctor what else you can do to feel better sooner.
• Don’t take an antibiotic for a viral infection, such as a cold or the flu.

How to Make a Sling
If someone breaks an arm, you should drive the person to a doctor’s office or hospital emergency room. Supporting the arm can reduce the person’s pain. To support the arm in a sling until it can be treated:

• Fold a scarf or square cloth into a triangle.
• Put one end of the triangle at the shoulder of the uninjured arm. Let the triangle dangle down the chest.
• Place the injured arm over the triangle dangling down the chest.
• Pull the dangling portion of the triangle up to meet the end at the shoulder. The injured arm should be inside the triangle, elbow covered and fingers peeking out.
• Tie the two ends together at the side of the neck, not at the back.
• Using a safety pin, attach the point of the triangle at the elbow to the sling. Make sure the hand is four or five inches higher than the elbow to keep the blood flow circulating and to decrease pain. Adjust the sling if necessary.

When to Switch Doctors

• The doctor often is rushed so you don’t have time to ask a reasonable number of questions.
• The office is unclean or disorganized.
• You feel dismissed or ignored.
• The doctor will prescribe only one form of treatment — medication, injections, physical therapy — and refuses to consider anything else.
• The doctor spends more time talking to you about money than about your condition.
• The doctor seems competent, but you don’t feel comfortable.

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