Patient safety is a fundamental principle of health care and is essential to delivering quality care to patients. Studies have shown that every year an inadmissible number of patients suffer through a negative experience due to unsafe and poor quality practices within the health care environment. This type of experience eventually leads to the patient seeking care at other facilities. Positive patient identification provides safer care to patients, avoids injuries, and can improve the quality of care. During admission and throughout the hospital continuum of care, matching the correct patient to the right medication, specimen, test, and procedures are critical for improving patient safety.
How does patient identification improve patient safety?
Every hospital has the mandate to deliver on patient safety as the utmost priority. Patient safety consists of many factors, but one that is often taken for granted is patient identification. Proper patient identification is the first crucial step in patient safety. Positive patient identification results in improved patient safety by reducing the risk of misidentification, miscommunication, health record errors, and incomplete patient information. Solutions such as patient wristbands, labels, and forms are part of the patient identification process that connects the patient to the hospital’s Health Information System.
When an individual is identified as a patient, they have a wristband placed on them. This is a crucial step in patient safety and should not be overlooked. While wristbands may seem like a simple feature of healthcare, no two wristbands are alike; each is designed for its own distinct purpose. For example, different wristbands are used depending on the length of stay, printer environment, patient application requirements, and to quickly alert hospital staff of special care requirements. The wristband also contains accurate patient information that is readily available during every point of care of the patient’s health care journey. Therefore, selecting the appropriate wristband and printing relevant information on the wristband is essential for healthcare facilities to keep patients safe and reduce the enormous cost of misidentification and errors.
Adopting proper patient identification solutions is essential for health facilities to communicate with their patients and provide better experiences. The wristband is the Single Point of Truth that informs and empowers health care facilities to engage and provide patient-centered care to their patients. Having a positive patient identification experience is the first step towards engaging patients in their health journey. It creates confidence in patients regarding their care and when patients feel safe, it allows for cultivations of patient connections resulting in better patient outcomes.
About Medirex Systems Inc.
Medirex Systems Inc. (Medirex) is a Canadian-owned and operated business connecting patients to health information systems. Being an industry leader for over 50 years, Medirex has evolved to bridge the gap between patient identification and engagement by cultivating patient connections with ease, security, and no errors. Providing a positive patient identification experience for over 10 million Canadians, Medirex adopts technologies ensuring that the patient has a voice in their healthcare journey. Medirex aids in the adoption of digital health resources and data to improve the patient experience for your healthcare organization.
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Medirex Communications
Medirex Systems Inc.
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