Identifying the ‘right patient’: Nurse and consumer perspectives on verifying patient identity during medication administration

Abstract

Accurate verification of patient identity during medication administration is an important component of medication administration practice. In medical and surgical inpatient settings, the use of identification aids, such as wristbands, is common. In many psychiatric inpatient units in Victoria, Australia, however, standardized identification aids are not used. The present paper outlines the findings of a qualitative research project that employed focus groups to examine mental health nurse and mental health consumer perspectives on the identification of patients during routine medication administration in psychiatric inpatient units. The study identified a range of different methods currently employed to verify patient identity, including technical methods, such as wristband and photographs, and interpersonal methods, such as patient recognition. There were marked similarities in the perspectives of mental health nurses and mental health consumers regarding their opinions and preferences. Technical aids were seen as important, but not as a replacement for the therapeutic nurse-patient encounter.

The underreporting of medication errors: A retrospective and comparative root cause analysis in an acute mental health unit over a 3‐year period

“…Mental health units must endeavour to improve the process for patient identification using wristband identification and interpersonal engagement (Kelly et al . ). Currently, wristbands are not routinely used within the unit under study, despite the endorsement from ACSQHC, a supporting hospital policy and recent education undertaken to challenge the existing workplace culture.…”

The medication process in a psychiatric hospital: are errors a potential threat to patient safety?

“…Many hospitals have introduced wristbands as a means to control patients’ identity, including the psychiatric hospital where our study was carried out. In a study of how and whether nurses identify patients in a psychiatric hospital setting, it was found that the use of wristbands was erratic and influenced by a psychiatric nursing culture rooted in the belief that (good) nurses know who the patients are 22. The inconsistency in using the patient’s wristband for identification has also been addressed in somatic settings, and it has been shown in simulation tests that as many as 61% of nurses do not discover an unexpected identity error 23,24.…”

Development of Instruments for Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in Performing Venepuncture and Inserting Peripheral Venous Catheters

“…Students may have confirmed patient identity before the first procedure, and therefore thought it unnecessary to confirm identity again before inserting the peripheral venous catheter. To be able to make a correct assessment here, students need to be informed of the importance of accurate patient identification prior to each procedure (36).…”