[Patient identification vigilance in public healthcare organizations: inventory in French hospitals and proposals].
Utilization of patients databases by the different healthcare departments, technical teams and registration clerks in care centers is becoming more and more important. Patients data exchanges within and between centers are growing, including public and private structures networks and require a complete match of the patient identification data. Because clinical chemists and pathologists are deeply involved in these exchanges, the National Clinical Chemistry College designed a survey about french hospitals practices (2007 july-2008 august) in order to secure patients identification at any stage of their stay. "Identity vigilance" term tends to emerge for designating this new risk management field. The responses from 94 hospitals are analyzed, which demonstrate an heterogeneous implementation and a very unequal concern of this issue in the different sites; 18% have not yet initiated any action. A strong involvement of the pathologists in the applying of identification safety procedures is expressed by their presence in the three executive, operative and underling levels in more than half of sites (in 84% of the sites for the operative level). Only 17% of the pathologists consider the patients database of their hospital software to be of good quality. This survey leads to become aware of local and national tasks that have to be implemented or carried on, both for identity registration at admission and identity checking before any health care. This effort has to be supported by an essential institutionalization of identity vigilance.
Perrin
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A
Service de gestion du risque infectieux et des vigilances, CHRU de Lille, France. a-perrin@chru-lille.fr
Morin
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C
D005602:France; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007445:Inventories, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D009938:Organizations / Q000592:standards*; D010355:Patient Identification Systems / Q000592:standards*; D011634:Public Health / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires