Now available from ILR Press/Cornell University Press-- Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing Is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients by Dan Zuberi Cornell University Press is pleased to announce the publication of Cleaning Up by Dan Zuberi under its ILR Press imprint. This book looks at how, to cut costs and maximize profits, hospitals in the United States and elsewhere are outsourcing such tasks as cleaning and food preparation to private contractors, exploring this issue from two perspectives: its impact on patient safety and its role in increasing socioeconomic inequality. For more information about Cleaning Up, see below and visit the book?s page on the Cornell University Press web site: http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100031650. This book is available from most booksellers or directly from Cornell University Press via our website and our ordering department (tel: 1-800-666-2211). (If ordering the book directly from Cornell, use the promo code CAU6 at checkout or when calling to receive 25% discount off the paperback edition?s US$19.95 list price.) Customers in Europe should order from our U.K.-based distributor, NBN International (www.nbninternational.com); in Australia and New Zealand, please order from Footprint Books (www.footprint.com.au). Cleaning Up is also available as an ebook from Amazon/Kindle, Apple iBooks , and Kobo. Sincerely, Mahinder Kingra, Director of Marketing Cornell University Press P.S. Your e-mail address was provided by the author at the press's request. It will not be saved, shared, or used for any other purpose. If you would like to receive e-mail notifications about the publication of other Cornell University Press titles, please visit the ?Newsletter? page on our website -- http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/newsletters/ --and click the subject(s) in which you are interested. # # # About Cleaning Up To cut costs and maximize profits, hospitals in the United States and many other countries are outsourcing such tasks as cleaning and food preparation to private contractors. In Cleaning Up, the first book to examine this transformation in the healthcare industry, Dan Zuberi looks at the consequences of outsourcing from two perspectives: its impact on patient safety and its role in increasing socioeconomic inequality. Drawing on years of field research in Vancouver, Canada as well as data from hospitals in the U.S. and Europe, he argues that outsourcing has been disastrous for the cleanliness of hospitals--leading to an increased risk of hospital-acquired infections, a leading cause of severe illness and death--as well as for the effective delivery of other hospital services and the workers themselves. Zuberi?s interviews with the low-wage workers who keep hospitals running uncover claims of exposure to near-constant risk of injury and illness. Many report serious concerns about the quality of the work due to understaffing, high turnover, poor training and experience, inadequate cleaning supplies, and on-the-job injuries. Zuberi also presents policy recommendations for improving patient safety by reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infection and ameliorating the work conditions and quality of life of hospital support workers. He makes the case that hospital outsourcing exemplifies the trend towards ?low-road? service-sector jobs that threatens to undermine society?s social health, as well as the physical health and well-being of patients in health care settings globally. About the Author Dan Zuberi is Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Differences that Matter: Social Policy and the Working Poor in the United States and Canada, also from Cornell/ILR. Praise for Hazard or Hardship ?In Cleaning Up, Dan Zuberi describes the alarming trend of rising hospital-based infection rates in North America. In compelling detail, he discusses the key role that hospital cleaning staff play in this problem and links rising rates of infection to deteriorating employment conditions. He shares the results of a qualitative research project he conducted that unveils the extreme financial difficulties many of these workers have experienced in the wake of the outsourcing of their jobs. He goes on to argue that while outsourcing may save money in the short term, it leads to deteriorating working conditions and living conditions for the cleaning staff, reduces the effectiveness of team functioning in hospitals, and may ultimately increase costs.? --Christopher Paul Landrigan, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women?s Hospital, and Children?s Hospital Boston ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mr. Mahinder Kingra | Director of Marketing Cornell University Press | http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu Sage House, 512 E. State Street | Ithaca, New York 14850 T: 607-277-2338 x255 | F: 607-277-2397 | E: [log in to unmask]