doctors in the radiology department were confused. Argyrula’s x-ray was clear. The pleural effusions found in the previous case have completely disappeared. x-ray. The mystery was solved when it was finally established that two Argirules, with the same last name and more or less the same age (one 83 years old, the other 81 years old) were hospitalized at the same time in the same clinic. hospital(!), but in different wards and with different specialists leading each patient. And no one in the clinic bothered to draw everyone’s attention to the possibility of error due to the similarity of the details of the two patients. The two Argyrules were lucky because this mistake, which happened about three years ago in a hospital in a swimming pool, was discovered in time. Except that Argyrula, with clear lungs, misunderstood a diuretic, which, fortunately, did not affect her health.

It is not always so. Lack of a reliable patient identification system is considered one of the common causes of medical errors (such as blood transfusions that should not have been given, administration of drugs, or even surgery on the wrong patient), and it is estimated that they can lead to permanent damage and disability, and even death. of people. According to international literature, about 9% of errors due to non-identification lead to temporary or permanent damage. A multicenter study conducted in the United States in 181 medical institutions recorded 7600 errors in patient identification over a 32-month period. The cost of managing the failure to correctly identify patients is relatively high. Revealingly, in 2016, one small-capacity (169-bed) hospital in the United States had a relative cost of $71,500.

WHO international target

Correct patient identification is one of the six international goals Patient safetyas it was accepted World Health Organization. In our country, the effort was launched last spring by the Health Quality Assurance Organization SA. and the Ministry of Health. Since last March, instructions have been sent to hospitals on how to apply identification bracelets to all patients admitted to hospitals. It is a flexible plastic material on which all user identification information is written.

Patient identification is the only response to random errors, which can be fatal.

Circular

Deputy Minister of Health Mina Gaga sent a new updated circular to hospitals yesterday. According to the latest circular, each hospitalized patient must wear an identification bracelet on the wrist, which will be worn when making a decision on hospitalization (from Ambulance department or from ordinary clinics), but also at birth, if we are talking about a newborn. Also, regardless of hospitalization, the bracelet is worn by every patient undergoing chemotherapy, dialysis, long-term treatment or undergoing day surgery. The nurse or midwife writes on the bracelet the name, patronymic, surname of the patient (as they are indicated on the admission sheet), hospital registration number and date of birth. Newborns are identified in the presence of the mother with a pink bracelet for girls and a blue bracelet for boys, which bear the name of the newborn, the mother’s name, sex, date and time of birth, and the mother’s registration number. Two bracelets are always worn (arm and opposite leg).

Adult patients who do not have contact with others and comrades are designated as “unknown 1”, “unknown 2”, etc., indicating the date of treatment and registration number.

The bracelet is removed as the last step upon discharge from the hospital. One bracelet is removed for infants at discharge. The other is filmed by the parents at home.