Over 70% of all information used by a clinician to diagnose and treat a patient comes from the laboratory. Ensuring that specimens are correctly identified at the point of collection is essential for accurate diagnostic information. Patient and/or specimen misidentification can be serious, resulting in misdiagnosis and mistreatment. A misidentification event creates multiple victims: the patient whose treatment was based on the provided results, the patient whose sample it actually was who may have gone untreated, and the healthcare workers who were directly involved with the patient or the specimen. There are also financial and emotional costs from this type of error. While the financial toll can be calculated, the emotional toll on the patients, their families, and healthcare workers who experience its impact is not easily quantifiable.1

How to start?

-Assemble a bar code task force with members from the Lab, IT and Nursing present.

-Research the latest tools on the market or email our panel for information.

-Evaluate the vendors and product offerings. Need help?  Contact Competitive Solutions, the leading consulting firm for bar coding and RFID.  They have an updated list of the best practice vendors and technologies.

-Conduct a work flow study (concurrently with the above steps).

1. Dock, Bobbi.  Improving the Accuracy of Specimen Labeling. Clinical Laboratory Science.  Fall 2005

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