Patient Safety:
It All Starts with Positive Patient Identification

Delivering the best possible care to every patient is a complex, interconnected process that involves every department in your facility.

Our new white paper explores the critical impact positive patient identification (PPID) has on patient safety throughout the administrative, diagnostic and treatment phases of a patient’s stay. The paper also explores how PPID can improve staff efficiency and help healthcare organizations meet the needs of changing patient demographics in an increasingly competitive labor market.

From the moment a patient enters your facility, a wide range of activities must be performed by many different employees from different functional areas—in a timely and efficient way—to ensure the best possible outcome.

• COLLECTING SPECIMENS
• PERFORMING TESTS
• ADMINISTERING MEDICATIONS
• DELIVERING TREATMENTS

Each one of these activities must be coordinated and documented as part of an overall care plan.

But the first step is making sure you’re treating the right patient—in the right way—every time.

According to The Joint Commission, “Wrong-patient errors occur in virtually all stages of diagnosis and treatment,” which is why it has made improving patient identification procedures a priority for the past several years.^*

And, as many healthcare facilities have discovered, correctly identifying a patient at each stage of care helps reduce the potential for dangerous errors and delays in treatment. It also helps ensure accurate charge capture.

Positive patient identification is the foundation of patient safety.

^*Source: http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/2015_NPSG_OBS.pdf