Fail-safe patient ID matching remains just out of reach.
Similarities in patient names and clinical situations can result in medical errors. Discussing how digital technologies can exacerbate patient identification problems, this magazine article describes unique elements of information systems that enable mistakes to spread quickly, outlines costs associated with patient mismatches, and recommends improvement strategies such as use of unique patient identifiers. A past WebM&M commentary reviewed an incident involving a patient mix-up.