One of the top National Patient Safety Goals established by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for 2005 is to improve the accuracy of patient identification by:      "[Using] at least two patient identifiers (neither to be the patient's room number) whenever administering medications or blood products; taking blood samples and other specimens for clinical testing, or providing any other treatments or procedures."

Blood bands are specifically designed to protect your patients and hospital from these potentially fatal errors. They provide a unique, randomly assigned patient identification number to ensure that blood samples are correctly identified, and transfusions are administered to the right patient.

St. John offers a variety of blood band products -- but only one lets you create blood ID labels on demand at bedside directly from the patients ID band.

The Bio-Logics Blood ID wristband is designed to replace any of the following systems: Hollister Identa-blood™ band, Baxter-Fenwall Typenex™ blood band and Disaster ID™ bands, PDC Secureline™ blood band or Securlink™ blood recipient system.

By implementing the Bio-Logics Blood ID band, you will realize significant cost savings and patient safety benefits.

Cost Savings 

The Bio-Logics Blood ID band is 50-60% less expensive than other blood bands.  In addition to being less expensive, you will realize additional savings from several unique features of the Bio-Logics Blood ID Band:

• You have the ability to print blood sample and unit ID labels, on demand, directly from the patient’s blood ID band. You only print (and pay for) the exact number of labels needed for each patient. Since labels are created on demand, you have an unlimited supply and will never run out of labels, and as a result, you will never have to reband a patient in order to obtain more labels. 
• In addition, when it becomes necessary to re-crossmatch a patient after 72 hours, there is no need to reband the patient.  The same band, with unique blood number, is used to print labels – eliminating the cost of a second band and the confusion caused by using a new number to identify the same patient’s blood.

Patient Safety Benefits

Unfortunately, errors with often catastrophic consequences occur during the blood transfusion process.  A recent CAP survey indicated that “mistransfusion occurs once every 12,000 units in the USA”.  “Greater than 90% of the time, it is because of human error in the patient or sample identification.” This same study reported that “approximately 1 in 1,000 samples arriving in the transfusion service are labeled with the wrong patient’s identity”.
According to America’s Blood Center, the most common errors that occur in the Blood Bank are:

1. Collection of blood from the incorrect patient
2. Incorrect labeling of blood samples
3. Misidentification of the sample at the Blood Bank
4. Issuance of the wrong unit from the Blood Bank
5. Transfusion of blood to the incorrect patient

When choosing a Blood ID Band, please consider whether or not your choice will eliminate the most common Blood Bank errors and increase patient safety.

The Bio-Logics Blood ID Band is the only band where blood sample and unit ID labels are generated on demand directly from the patient’s wristband at bedside, ensuring positive patient and blood identification.

The unique ability to generate labels on demand, directly from the patient’s ID band ensures positive patient and blood identification by:

• Increasing the integrity of labeling all blood samples.
• Increasing the probability that the correct label will be printed and applied to the blood sample.
• Enhancing quality control by providing physical evidence that the patient was wearing an ID band and that the ID band was used to generate an identification label for the clot tube.
• Providing a complete audit trail from the sample draw through the transfusion, ensuring positive patient ID at every step.

Additionally, the Bio-Logics Blood ID Band reduces errors by:

• The inability to recreate and potentially duplicate blood ID numbers. All ID band tags are pre-printed at the factory with 3 alpha and 5 numeric characters to prevent duplication. (Blood ID numbers can also be barcoded.)
• Using only one blood number for each patient.
• No longer necessary to cross-reference a patient’s blood bank ID number to several unique numbers when 72 hour re-crossmatches are performed.
• No longer necessary to reband the patient with a new Blood ID number when you run out of labels.
• Eliminates mistakes and confusion as a result of cross referencing multiple
• Eliminates the risk that a wrong blood ID number is mistakenly associated with apatient.
• Producing the exact quantity of labels needed as often as needed (at the patient’s bedside) – with no extra labels floating around.
• No surplus labels that could mistakenly be applied to other patients’ samples.
• Never run out of labels (which requires another band and blood ID number).

The Bio-Logics Blood ID band is the only band that offers 24x7 Patient IdentificationTM increasing compliance

• Because patients can easily be rebanded at bedside the percentage of patients whom are wearing a blood ID band increase…therefore, reducing the potential for errors and increasing patient safety.
• Replacement bands can be stored at the patient’s bedside – simply reattach the patient’s blood ID tag to a replacement band.
• Easy to re-band patients with their existing blood bank ID number if the wristband is cut-off.
• No need to re-stick the patient and assign a new blood ID number!

Finally, the Bio-Logics Blood ID Band can be easily upgraded to serve as a combination admitting and blood bank ID band, simplifying and standardizing patient ID processes as well as further reducing patient ID costs.

Bio-Logics wristbands are the only wristbands that can consolidate multiple admitting, alert and blood bands.  Click here to learn about the Unique Benefits of the Bio-Logics Consolidated admitting/Blood/Alert Wristband System.