Prior to any specimen collection, medication administration, transfusion, or treatment, the hospital actively involves the patient, or the patient's family, to identify the patient using two unique identifiers.What It Means
Health care providers must first identify the individual as the correct person to receive the service or treatment; and second, match the service or treatment to that individual. Therefore, the two patient-specific identifiers must be directly associated with the individual, and the same two identifiers (such as on an attached label) must be directly associated with the medication, blood products, or specimen tube.
Why It Is Important
By using two identifiers, health care team members can prevent the wrong patient from receiving the wrong blood product or medication or from unnecessarily having his/her blood drawn.