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Scenario
Sarah is paged to collect STAT blood samples from 3West, Room 226. She arrives at the nursing station to pick up the lab request form for Brenda Colby in W226 and proceeds to the room. She enters the room and introduces herself to the patient, and then proceeds to verify identification. The patient has just been admitted and does not have a hospital identification arm band yet. The nurse tells Sarah to go ahead and draw the patient, that she can verify patient ID since the physician is waiting for the results. She ensures the lab tech that she will apply the armband when it arrives. Sarah goes ahead and draws the sample since it is STAT.
Questions
Answer
No, Sarah was not correct in collecting the blood sample. According to the Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, all patients must have a positive form of identification before a specimen can be collected (Gosnell et al., 2016). Positive patient identification is essential in preventing misidentification, which could lead to serious consequences such as incorrect diagnosis or wrong treatment being given.
In order to collect blood specimens from Brenda Colby, Sarah needs her name and date of birth verified through either two forms of photo identification or one non-photo ID with other identifying information (Gosnell et al., 2016). This process should be done prior to collection and documented in the patient’s chart.
To prevent misidentification in the future, healthcare facilities should implement certain strategies such as requiring two identifiers when obtaining consent from a patient prior to procedures; using barcode wristbands on all patients with accurate information that matches their medical records; verifying date of birth at every encounter; and utilizing advanced patient record systems like electronic medical records (Gosnell et al., 2016). Additionally, healthcare workers should practice active communication between staff members regarding verification processes and documentation.