Identify Patients Correctly
• DEFINITIONS
• Active Patient Identification — the process of identifying a
competent adult patient by asking his/ her to tell the staff his/
GOAL her full name while staff ensures it matches the information on
his/ her ID band and medical record file, as appropriate.
1 • “Patient identifiers” are those names, numbers, etc., whose
purpose is to uniquely identify one particular patient and
distinguish him/her from all other eligible medical recipients.
• Vulnerable Patients — patients who are unable to
communicate due to temporary communication impairments
(such as those who are unconscious, heavily medicated, on
ventilators, or are in intensive care or recovery) or cannot
communicate because of language barriers and an interpreter
is not readily available, age (such as infants), cognitive
impairments (such as dementia or behavioral disorders), or
medical condition (such as coma).
Patient Identification is required in the following (but not limited to):
1. Upon admission/ first contact
GOAL 2. Before providing treatments (such as administering medications, blood, or
blood products, serving restricted diet trays; or providing radiation therapy)
1 3. Performing procedures (such as insertion of an intravenous line or
hemodialysis).
4. Before any diagnostic procedures (such as taking blood and other specimens
for clinical testing, or performing a cardiac catheterization or diagnostic
radiology procedure).
5. During transfer, discharge and confirmation of death
6. For labor cases, upon admission aside from taking the female patient’s I.D., it
is a must to take copy of the male companion (father/husband/brother) I.D.
must be kept in the patient’s file.
7. For emergency cases, if the patient’s ID is not available, copy of the ID from
patient’s next of kin must be kept in the patient file.
8. Upon discharge
For emergency cases, if the patient’s ID is
not available, copy of the ID from patient’s
next of kin must be kept in the patient file.
GOAL What if the next of kin is not present? OR
1 What if patient doesn’t have an ID? OR
What if patient cannot speak?
How will you identify a patient in such cases???
There are two (2) approved identifiers per setting for:
1.INPATIENT setting:
1. Patient full name (three names for Arabic patients)
2. Patient Medical Record number
2.OUTPATIENT setting:
GOAL 1. Patient full name (three names for Arabic patients)
2. National ID and/ or Iqama number
1
• Additional identifier for inpatient must be used in rare cases when
two (2) patient identifiers are the same for more than one person, ID
(CNIC) of the patient must be used as third identifier.
• Room number, bed number and sex (except for newborns)
are never used as patient identifiers.
• In cases when patients are having the same name and look or sound
very much alike, a NAME ALERT process must be carried out to
decrease the risk of error.
• FOR OPD Patients?
• All admitted patients will have an ID band Outpatients do not wear ID
GOAL bands except for outpatient setting in which patients are receiving
treatments/ medications and procedures like:
1 • Patients in Emergency Room (ER).
• Patients having procedures with procedural moderate sedation /
analgesia.
• Patients on haemodialysis
• Patients in Assisted Reproduction Unit
• Patients in Nuclear Medicine
• Patients in Radiology & Imaging Department where prolonged stay is
anticipated [e.g. Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP), MRI with contrast, CT-
Scan with contrast, Fine
• Needle Aspiration (FNA)]
• Application of ID Band will be as follows:
• Patient wrist or the easiest accessible limb
• In case when patient is undergoing surgery and the existing ID band
GOAL needs to be removed then OR staff will generate temporary ID band
and attach to the next available limb.
1 • Exemptions in ID Band application:
• If application of ID band as a “bracelet” is impossible (i.e. if patient is
limbless, or is extremely agitated and harms him or herself by trying
to remove the bracelet, if the patient has burned extremities, or is an
extremely premature newborn, etc.).
• Visibly attach ID band to the patient’s bed / crib
• This application is to be noted in the patient’s Nurses Progress Notes.
• If the ID band is fading, missing, or contains information that is
incorrect, the test, treatment, medication, procedure, etc. will
not be performed until the information is corrected and the
patient is accurately identified.
• Color Codes for ID-Bands;
GOAL • White for all patients (pts above 18 yr)
1 •
•
Blue for baby boys (upto 18 yr)
Pink for baby girls (upto 18 yr)
• Red for Allergies
• Yellow for Fall Risk
