We've said it a number of times: accurate patient identification is essential for providing safe and high-quality care. Recall that ECRI Institute - one of the nation's leading patient safety organizations - listed patient ID errors as its No. 2 concern for 2016.
As we've also tried to illustrate, this isn't a new problem. In May 2007, the Joint Commission (a national entity that accredites healthcare organizations for participation in Medicare) and the World Health Organization noted that, "Throughout the healthcare industry, the failure to correctly identify patients continues to result in medication errors, transfusion errors, testing errors, wrong person procedures, and the discharge of infants to the wrong families."
The problem isn't unique to the United States either, as the Joint Commission and WHO pointed out.
Even though we are in a bit of a quiet period as judging for the Concept Blitz round continues, we encourage innovators to keep fleshing out their ideas and get ready for final round submissions. Together, we can truly make healthcare better and safer.
