Master Mai Thi Dung, Head of Quality Management Department, Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital, said that nowadays, when patients with the same name and date of birth are no longer rare, correctly identifying the patient at all steps before performing the service is one of the mandatory tasks to ensure patient safety.
Mistaking patients when receiving medical care is a very serious problem. This confusion has led to many unfortunate medical errors.
Each patient has a medical code.
In order to minimize unnecessary errors, Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital has implemented and applied the process of "Correct patient identification". To ensure that there are no errors related to patient identification, the hospital always identifies patient information before providing any medical services, including: Reception - Examination - Paraclinical - Hospitalization - Procedure/surgery/treatment/service - Dispensing medicine - Payment...
This process is carried out using the principle of using open questions to check information, then comparing it with the patient's records to accurately identify the individual and everything related to the patient.
In addition, each patient who comes to the clinic will have a unique medical code. This medical code is used throughout the patient's treatment at the hospital, helping medical staff save time compared to manual data entry, while ensuring accurate information because each patient only has a single medical code at the hospital.
Technician checks information and guides patient to take X-ray at Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital
"At the same time, the connection between software systems: HIS (Medical Information Management), PACs (Diagnostic Imaging Information Management) and LIS (Laboratory Information Management) at the hospital also contributes to increasing accuracy in ensuring correct patient identification and correct service," said Master Dung.
The "Correct Patient Identification" process must be followed at all stages. In the case of X-rays, MRIs, etc., the patient will be examined by a doctor before ordering the scan. The technician must confirm the information with the patient before taking the scan to ensure the correct person.
Apply the principle of "3 checks and 5 controls"
A representative of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, Branch 3, said that correctly identifying patients is one of the important issues that the hospital strictly adheres to.
When coming to the hospital bed or calling the name of an outpatient, medical staff must confirm whether you are this patient based on many open information such as name, age, address... In addition, the hospital also avoids arranging patients with the same name and age in the same room to easily distinguish and avoid confusion.
During the process of prescribing drugs, the hospital applies the "3 checks, 5 reconciliations" principle of the Ministry of Health. This principle includes checking the patient's name, drug name, drug dosage; comparing bed number, room number, drug label, time of drug use, injection route, and time of drug use.
Before performing acupressure or acupuncture procedures, patients will have their information confirmed and the name of the procedure read before performing it.
Master Dung added that for inpatients, identifying patients with barcoded identification bracelets is a simple but effective measure. The bracelets need to clearly state the patient's information such as full name, date of birth, and patient ID number (medical code). Medical staff need to carefully check the information on the bracelet before performing any intervention on the patient.
"In addition to inpatient and outpatient examinations, patient safety during surgeries is also of great concern to the hospital. For surgeries, the surgical team must perform a surgical safety checklist in 3 stages: Pre-anesthesia stage - Anesthesia stage and before skin incision - During the entire surgery, immediately after skin closure and preparation to transfer the patient out of the operating room to ensure the right patient, the right surgical method and the right surgical location," shared Master Dung.
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