Patient-Identification System Reduces Errors by Nearly 100%

By using a new patient-identification system that combines barcoding technology with proven specimen-collection standards for the past four years, a 451-bed hospital has reduced errors related to incorrect labels by 99.95% and reduced errors related to mis-identifying patients and using an incorrect specimen container by 100%.

The patient-identification system is designed to ensure that specimens are collected from the right patient, at the right time, into the right specimen container, and that this information is linked back to the right patient. The system includes a handheld computer that serves as a portable data terminal. A built-in scanner in the computer is used to identify patients at their bedside.

The system captures and stores each specimen collection and helps to ensure that the patient, test order, and time of collection are correct. A barcode on the patient's wristband is matched against a printed barcoded specimen label at bedside for an additional level of identification and security. When placed in its cradle, the system synchronizes with the laboratory information system (LIS) via a bi-directional interface.

The system was developed by BD (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) and is called the BD.id System. The system was installed for more than four years to manage specimen collection in The Valley Hospital (Ridgewood, NJ, USA; www.valleyhealth.com), a 451-bed acute care, not-for-profit community hospital serving more than 300,000 people in the county and adjoining communities.

"As a result of implementing the BD.id System, unnecessary phlebotomy--drawing a second blood sample because there was an error in collecting the first--was eliminated completely,” noted Michael Mutter, M.S., R.Ph., director of clinical systems quality improvement at The Valley Hospital. "The BD.id System not only cuts down on errors, but it also can reduce staff time per specimen collection and specimen receipt time in the laboratory. This is one project that really is working.”

BD is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products. "This system is arriving at just the right time for hospitals,” said William A. Kozy, president, BD Diagnostics. "The [U.S.] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently posed ‘Seven Healthcare Safety Challenges' to hospitals, and challenge number five is to ‘eliminate laboratory errors leading to adverse patient outcomes.' The BD.id System was created to help hospitals achieve that very goal.”




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