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We could be improving safety with Patient ID
In May 2009, a GSMP call to action was sent to the GS1 community announcing the creation of a Patient and Caregiver ID Work Group.
To ensure patient safety, the care delivery process needs global standards to manage the series of Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) mechanisms used to uniquely identify and then mark or label patients, caregivers and healthcare products.
If AIDC is used at the bedside of the patient, in the operating theater and at other points of care, more accurate and more timely data capture will allow the 5 Patient Rights to be respected: the right patient, the right medication/product, at the right dosage, by the right route of administration and at the right time. A unique, unambiguous standards-based solution for patient identification will also allow the more effective introduction of electronic healthcare (eHealth) initiatives, currently high on the agenda in many countries.
The objective of Patient and Caregiver ID Work Group is to make all this possible, by completing the standards for identification, marking and labeling for both the patient and caregiver.
However, the GSMP work group model requires a minimum level of support throughout the process, and to meet eBallot requirements. The Call to Action was unable to gather a sufficiently representative group of stakeholders, and its work was put on hold.
GS1 cannot create standards without the collaboration of a wide range of healthcare sector stakeholders.
We need your help
We need all GS1 MOs to help us find experts representing the user community (i.e., “users of patient & caregiver ID”, such as caregivers, hospital administration, national / regional Electronic Health Record project managers, Health insurers, etc; “managers of patient & caregiver ID”, such as medical informatics, national / regional eHealth project managers (epSOS, Calliope, M403, Joint Commission International, accreditation bodies, etc.), from third parties, and from solution providers, so we have a balanced membership from the healthcare community to define and establish proper global standards with the clear intention of implementation of these.
Members of the workgroup would be asked to help:
- Gather patient and care giver identification requirements
- Perform a gap analysis against the current GS1 System Standards
- Recommend a uniform identification solution
- Recommend a uniform AIDC marking/labeling solution
- Develop any necessary enhancements to the GS1 General Specifications
- Provide implementation recommendations to the GS1 Healthcare Leadership Team
The stakes are too high to allow the Patient and Caregiver ID Work Group to remain on hold! Please help us engage with your members on this vitally important mission.
- Read the Call to Action
- Members of the GS1 Community shared space can read more
Contact
For more information or to discuss possibilities, contact Christian Hay or by phone at +41 21 825 32 19