Helping hippocrates: a cross-functional approach to patient identification

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations National Patient Safety Goal 1, which requires the use of at least two patient identifiers, is the foundation for other patient safety goals. St. Francis Hospital involved staff and patients in the "Helping Hippocrates" Project, which used a "game" with staff and patients to ensure the accuracy of information on patients' identification (ID) bands.

Members of all hospital departments assigned to a specific day were to compare the ID band with the patient census report and identify patients who had no ID band on their wrist and patients who had a band with inaccuracies. They were to also ask patients if the staff had checked the ID band before treatments or procedures. Also, the nurse manager was to select a patient to add to his or her own ID band a special band bearing the name Hippocrates. The department conducting the survey had to find Hippocrates.

Internal data showed that patient identification errors declined from 8.2% to a sustained zero. Patient satisfaction data showed that since the inception of Helping Hippocrates, patients' perceptions of staffs compliance with ID verification showed steady improvement.

Helping Hippocrates demonstrates the value of using an innovative problem-solving strategy that engages the entire organization.