Reducing errors in blood specimen labeling: a multihospital initiative

Reducing errors in blood specimen labeling: a multihospital initiative

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
Pennsylvania patient safety advisory
Contributor(s):
Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority.
ECRI (Organization)
Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Publication:
[Harrisburg, Pa.] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, c2011
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Blood Specimen Collection -- methods
Medical Errors -- prevention & control
Patient Identification Systems -- methods
Product Labeling -- methods
Specimen Handling -- methods
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
Patient blood specimen identification is critical for quality patient care. Misidentified specimens can result in delayed diagnosis, additional laboratory testing, treatment of the wrong patient for the wrong disease, and severe transfusion reactions. Specimen identification errors have been reported to occur at rates of 0.1% to 6.5%. From August 2009 through October 2010, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority sponsored a multihospital blood specimen labeling collaborative. The Authority worked with the hospitals to measure blood specimen labeling error rates, document hospital-specific interventions to reduce the labeling error rate, and measure the outcome of the interventions. At the end of the collaborative, there was a 37% aggregate statistically significant decrease in specimen labeling errors. This study discusses the collaborative's objectives, methods, and outcomes.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101561907 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101561907