The use of patient digital facial images to confirm patient identity in a children's hospital's anesthesia information management system.
The Universal Protocol was intended to prevent wrong site, wrong procedure and wrong person surgery; however, these errors persist. In an effort to reduce wrong-patient charting and near-miss events involving anesthesia, this study implemented a digital photograph to the pre-anesthesia checklist to prompt visual inspection of the patient’s facial image and verification of their hospital ID bracelet. After implementation, only one instance of wrong-patient charting was documented; however, baseline data was unavailable and thus, it is unknown whether this intervention reduced mischarting error.