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Arizona hospitals introduce wristband system for at-risk patients

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, June 12, 2007

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Two Arizona hospitals-Sun Health Boswell and Del E. Webb Hospital-began using uniform color-coded wristbands in the spring to help hospital workers identify at-risk patients, according to the Daily News-Sun of Phoenix. Barb Averyt, program director of patient safety at the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, started the Safe & Sound program, which identifies patients who have Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders, allergies, or who are at fall risk. A large number of nurses and doctors practice at more than one hospital, but the colored wristbands used to identify at-risk patients varied from hospital to hospital. Averyt told the Daily News-Sun that an incident at a Pennsylvania hospital, where a nurse gave the patient the wrong color wristband and could have caused a fatality, led her to research the issue in Arizona. At that time, the 47 Arizona hospitals were using eight different colored wristbands to signify DNR. Averyt and a team of hospital representatives determined which colors to use for each alert. Red was used to designate allergy risk, yellow was used for fall risk, and purple was used to signify DNR. The program was launched in April and has been adopted statewide. Neighboring states including Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, and West Virginia have adopted the program. To read the Daily News-Sun article, go here.

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