We all worry when friends or loved ones are hospitalized. Are they getting good care? Who do we go to with questions? What can we do to help them stay safe and have the best possible outcome? After going through this difficult process several times, herself, author Martine Ehrenclou, M.A. put together a step-by-step guide to answer those questions and more, spending hundreds of hours interviewing doctors, nurses, hospital social workers and other medical staff in the process.

Topics cover how to be a patient’s advocate, preventing infectious diseases, fall prevention, the importance of research, what to do if you live out of town, and more. Most practical, the 227-page book includes a personal reference guide that allows you to take notes on a moment-to-moment basis of everything that happens to your loved one in the hospital, jot questions, keep track of medications, list names of health care workers and monitor daily progress after discharge. (Lemon Grove Press, 2008, $19.95.)