Wristband errors in small hospitals - A college of American Pathologists' Q-Probes study of quality issues in patient identification

We compared wristband errors for 204 small hospitals. Phlebotomists examined wristbands on 451,436 occasions and identified 25,800 errors (total error rate, 5.7%). The absence of a wristband accounted for 64.6% of all errors reported; wristbands with missing information, 12.4%; multiple wristbands with different information, 12.1%; wristbands with erroneous information, 6.7%; illegible wristbands, 3.5%; and patients wearing another patient's wristband, 0.7%. Factors found to correlate with lower error rates were the practice of sending written correspondence to the nursing service involved for each error detected, the practice of having nursing staff monitor wristbands on patient transfer, and laboratory accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Factors found to correlate with higher error rates were the practice of allowing wristbands to be placed on objects that may become separated from the patient (eg, chart, beds, wall) and the practice of having nurses responsible for initial wristband placement.