Eight Best Practices for Patient ID Bands Providing Optimum Patient Safety

We’ve written extensively about the importance to patient safety of rigorous identification protocols, and implementation of the patient wristbands is key to most such strategies. But strapping an ID band – any ID band – on your patients’ wrists does not, in and of itself, ensure their safety. As Zebra Technologies explores in its recent white paper, Wristband Formatting Best Practices: Key Considerations for Improving Patient Care, it takes a comprehensive combination of best practices to achieve optimum results. Zebra identifies eight best patient identification wristband practices for maximum patient safety:

  1. Repeat 2D Barcodes: 2D barcodes offer the advantage of encoding a wealth of critical patient data, including blood type, primary physician and allergies. But, when a patient ID wristband displays just a single 2D barcode, caregivers often have to manipulate the patient’s arm and rotate the wristband to position the barcode properly for scanning. This can be needlessly painful for the patient and time consuming for the caregiver. Repeating the 2D barcode along the otherwise unused length of the band mitigates both.
  2. Include Two Linear Barcodes: Although 2D codes offer distinct advantages when it comes to data density, some applications such as glucometer scanners support only linear codes. Include at least two linear barcodes evenly spaced along the length of the patient ID band to similarly ease scanning regardless of wristband orientation.
  3. Don’t Forget Human-Readable Text: Each patient wristband should include human-readable text of the patient’s last and first name to allow independent confirmation of the machine-read identification.
  4. Add MRN and FIN: Adding the appropriate medical-record and financial-institution numbers to the data encoded into the barcode will help save later steps in administrating patient records.
  5. Secure Confidential Patient Information with Check Digits: Patient data is subject to strict rules of confidentiality. Ensure that encoded patient data cannot be read by just any scanner – such as a visitor’s barcode phone app – by adding a check digit to the front of the barcode.
  6. Add Print Time: Adding human-readable text that identifies when and by whom the wristband was printed aids in tracing the chain of custody of lost bands as well in confirmation of the authenticity of patient ID bands.
  7. Deploy Child-Friendly Infant Wristbands: Infant skin is preciously delicate. Use only bands that are soft, hypoallergenic and nonabrasive – specifically sized and formulated for infant identification. Small infant bands should also contain a flat surface of sufficient dimension to include both a linear (1D) and a 2D barcode.
  8. Use Only High-Quality Printers: Optimum scan efficiency and reliability assume clear, crisp, durable print. Patient identification is serious business. In the normal administrative workflow, you’ve got just on chance to get it right. Don’t entrust the safety of your patients to anything less than the best barcode printers available.

Of course, Zebra’s patient-wristband best-practices white paper covers each of these strategies in much greater depth and includes a graphic of an optimally formatted wristband print, so be sure to check it out for yourself.