• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

What’s in a name?

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, June 2, 2006

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

There are only so many names out there, and sometimes two or more patients with the same or similar names will enter your hospital. How do you make sure that you treat the right patient?

1. Use stickers to add a visual cue to charts

At Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, TN, the staff use name-alert stickers to provide a visual reminder to double-check the patient's name. It's a long-standing practice that's been successful, says Peggy Putnam, RN, CPHQ, director of risk management and safety at Blount.

2. Check and e-mail similar names to unit managers

Send an e-mail to each unit outlining the same and similar named patients in the hospital's care. That's the approach taken at WCA Hospital in Jamestown, NY, according to Quality Improvement Director Nan Thaler, MHA.

"On the census list, we cut and paste the names that are similar or the same as other patient's, and we e-mail them to the clinical care areas," she says. The alerts are sent daily to keep each unit apprised of any similarities.

To read more tips on identifying patients correctly, go to Briefings on Patient Safety (BOPS). For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire May issue of BOPS. Click here to choose between the PDF and HTML versions for just $30. Subscribers to the online version of BOPS have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter can find this article in their May issue.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive