Quality & Patient Safety

Hospital focuses on improving patient ID processes

Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety), July 1, 2009

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In 2007, as part of an annual performance improvement review, Leisa Butler, RHIA, CPHQ, performance manager in the quality management services department at Self Regional Healthcare (SRH) in Greenwood, SC, began tracking safety events occurring within the facility with an identification (ID) events team, consisting of staff members from the operating room, emergency care center (ECC), laboratory, and risk management department.
From this performance improvement review, Butler and her team discovered that patient ID events comprised the majority of safety events occurring at SRH. In targeting patient ID processes, SRH managed to reduce ID events by 65% after one month of implementing a new plan. These ID events included misidentification of a patient, specimen, medication, test results, and/or medical record.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety).

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