Clinical Center
April 2009
In this issue:
New Orleans doctors report on post-Katrina
Lab Professionals Week April 19 to 25
Inaugural piano concert series
continued on page 4
Barcode identifi cation system serves patient care mission
The latest of the Clinical Center efforts
to deliver top-tier patient care uses bar-
code technology for consistent positive
patient identifi cation.
Beginning March 30, each inpatient
wristband has featured two readable
codes: one linear barcode and an Aztec-
like two-dimensional barcode.
The barcodes will initially be used to
enhance specimen collection activity,
with plans to integrate them into blood
and medication administration processes
in the next year.
“Our primary goal is a reduction in
adverse events associated with misiden-
tifi cation of patients,” said Laura Lee,
special assistant to the deputy director
for clinical care and lead on the barcode
project .
This fi rst phase of the initiative outfi ts
each inpatient unit and the phlebotomy
department with a portable workstation
with a scanner and a printer. The nurse or
technician scans the barcode on his own
badge to identify who is collecting the
sample. Then he or she scans the patient’s
wristband, and the necessary labels print
immediately at the patient’s bedside. Previ-
ously a nurse or technician had to print
specimen labels from a central printer and
carry them to the patient’s bedside—an
opportunity for misidentifi cation leading
to errors. The staff member collects the
sample and scans the patient’s wristband
again to complete the process.
Documentation of the specimen
collection automatically uploads to the
Clinical Research Information System
through the Laboratory Informatics
System. A benefi t to the CC’s clinical re-
search mission, the new system records
the specifi c time a sample is drawn, criti-
cal to the collection of accurate clinical
research data, Lee said.
Elizabeth McNamara of the Labora-
tory for Informatics Development is
working with the Department of Clinical