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Hospitals that implemented educational interventions showed an increase in the use of patient identification wristbands, which decreased overall safety events, including medication errors, wrong patient identification, and wrong patient procedures.

I would like to thank:

Rochester Christian University

Professor Amy Guitar

Victoria Dobrowolski

All of the nurses on 5 West at DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan

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References

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• Patient safety is a key component in healthcare, with accurate patient identification being at the top of the list
• Medication errors, incorrect procedures, issues with documentation, etc., due to patient misidentification happen more than they should, when they are completely preventable
• In pediatrics, misidentification is a larger issue due to young children not being able to accurately confirm their name and age due to developmental age, disability, or fear.
• The main barrier to nurses not applying these wristbands is a lack of education
• It is crucial for nurses to ensure that accurate identification wristbands are being applied

INTRODUCTION

• Scholarly peer-reviewed articles relating to patient identification wristbands and safety
• Keywords: Identification, wristbands, pediatrics, safety, education
• Independent variable: education, use, application of identification wristbands, and compliance
• Dependent variable: knowledge/confidence levels among nurses
• Intervention: In-service on the importance of wristband identification usage and how to use the wristband printing machine

Wrapped in Safety: The Role of Protecting Pediatric Patients with Accurate Identification Wristbands

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Nataleigh Eagle | Nursing, Rochester Christian University

Sponsor: Professor Amy Guitar

METHODOLOGY

CONCLUSIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

DATA COLLECTION

RESULTS

• 5 nurses participated
• Improvement in all categories ranging from 0.6-1 point
• The biggest improvement is in performing the task without hesitation and convincing an observer that they are competent
• Some were already educated on how to use the machine
• The education presentation was partially effective

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

• Improve compliance with applying identification wristbands to pediatric patients
• Improve patient safety
• Reduce safety events, including medication errors, incorrect procedures, and issues with documentation

• A questionnaire using Grundy’s C-Scale was given to the nurses on a neurosurgery/endocrinology pediatric floor to assess the level of confidence they had in using the wristband printing machine
• An education presentation was used to inform nurses of the importance of ensuring identification wristbands are being applied, where to find the wristband machine, and how to use it
• A pre- and post- Likert survey was used to measure the level of confidence each nurse had in using the wristband machine before and after the educational presentation
• The results of this survey measured nurse

knowledge/confidence levels on using the wristband

machine, which is hopefully going to increase

identification wristband application compliance

CLINICAL QUESTION

Do pediatric nurses who are educated on identification wristbanding, compared to nurses without wristband education, have improved implementation of wristband usage resulting in decreased safety events during a 14-week EBP project?

INTERVENTION

The intervention would be the implementation of an education presentation to educate nurses on a neurosurgery/endocrinology pediatric unit about the importance of identification wristband usage and how to use the wristband printing machine. This presentation includes:

• The importance of identification wristband application
• Where the wristband printing machine is located
• How to operate the wristband printing machine
• Demonstration of the process

Donabedian Model

• Provides a systematic framework for evaluating healthcare quality
• Structure: Identification Wristbands
• Process: Nurses putting the wristbands on and verifying them before care
• Outcomes: Reduced safety events
• Good setup -> good care -> good results