Positive Patient Identification (PPID)

This paper examines the evidence related to Positive Patient Identification (PPID) in prevention of patient care errors. The PPID system is an automated integration system of wristband placement on a patient that uses an identifier to follow them through the entire admission/treatment/discharge process (Aller, 2005) in an effort to reduce patient care errors related to blood transfusions, specimen labeling and collection, medication administration, point of care testing, radiology, patient identification and other clinical interventions. Two main types of technology are used to positively identify patients in healthcare: barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID) (Halamka, 2006). Barcodes use either plain linear barcodes or more complicated two dimensional barcodes. RFID uses two methods: passive and active. Positive RFID tags contain an antenna and chip; radio frequency energy is absorbed by the antenna and the chip broadcasts the data. Active RFID tags contain a battery and transmitter; used to find the physical location of the tag.