[Histonet] Joint Comm and patient identifiers

[Michael Mihalik]

Here's another view on the matter:

We have a client who purposely had us remove both the patient name and the
MRN from the slide label.  In their opinion,  it was a violation of patient
confidentiality when and if a slide left their organization for consultation
or perhaps for further workups.  Obviously, not all slides are sent out of
the organization, but they took the attitude of 'being safe than sorry' I
suspect.

Hence, the two identifiers on their slide are the 2 D barcode and the case
number.   To the best of my knowledge they are TJC inspected and they have
never had any issues.

Keep in mind that I have not read the regulations, and I come at a lot of
things from an IT perspective, but there's a big difference to me in the
terminology, 'patient identifiers', and 'human readable patient
identifiers'.

In the end, this may be an example of people and technology not quite being
in synch.


Michael Mihalik
PathView Systems | cell: 214.733.7688 | 800.798.3540 | fax: 952.241.7369
 
 
 


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of
histotech <@t> imagesbyhopper.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:37 AM
To: 'histonet'
Subject: [Histonet] Joint Comm and patient identifiers

Hi Histonetters!

 

I have a question related to the two patient identifiers that TJC requires:
can anyone point (online) me to the actual regulation?

 

It was my understanding that the 2 identifiers related to the *collection*
of the specimen, meaning that the container and associated requisition had
to have 2 positive patient identifiers.  The question is, do they
*specifically* state that the 2 identifiers must be carried through to the
final surgical slide?

 

The reason I ask is that I have a friend who got dinged for their slides not
having 2 patient identifiers on them.  They have the surgical number and
name of institution, but not the patient name or MRN.  My friend is just
looking for the actual statute so that he can read and follow exactly as
expected.

 

Also, can anyone confirm that the surgical number and a bar code would
suffice as 2 identifiers?

 

Thanks!  

 

Michelle

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