White Paper: Improving Patient Safety With An Integrated Forms Automation & Barcoding Solution

In the increasingly diverse and complex world of healthcare information technology, hospitals are expected to check off items on an ever-growing list of practical and conceptual needs. ‘Hot button' issues include compliance with federal legislation such as HIPAA, Medicare and Medicaid, meeting requirements of regulatory organizations and creation of comprehensive electronic medical records (EMR) and legal health records (LHR).

There is one ever-present goal that encompasses elements of all of the above and more – increasing patient safety. At for-profit and non-profit organizations alike, providing an environment that improves and does not compromise patients' health is the primary motivator of clinical and administrative staff. From presidential speeches, to the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations's (JCAHO or the Joint Commission) annual National Patient Safety Goals, to statements from leading organizations such as the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), improving the wellbeing of the public through the delivery of accurate and timely treatment is a recurrent theme.

One of the primary components of any effective patient safety initiative is positive patient identification. For an individual to receive appropriate care (including physical exams, surgery, bedside medication verification and post-discharge treatment), the facility they choose must be able to correctly identify them at every stage of their encounter. This may seem elementary, but a startling number of patients die and even more receive inappropriate and/or delayed care because they were incorrectly identified by healthcare professionals (for more information, see the statistics on page three).

There are many hardware and software components required for a complete positive patient identification system, including a seamless medication order and pharmacy application, a surgery scheduling system and applications for specimen collection and transfusion administration. This whitepaper focuses on another key component – integrated, automated forms and barcoding solutions.