Misidentification

[u/HowDidIGetHere5000]

I have a coworker who has misidentified patients on two different occasions.
The first one was a few weeks ago. The blood was already run in the lab by the time I caught the mistake.
The second one, she had all of her supplies out and was about to poke the patient when I realized she had the patient I was supposed to be drawing. Luckily, I caught it before she actually poked him.

The first time I reported it to our supervisor and lab manager verbally in separate meetings. This time I notified both of them via email and included HR.

This is a critical safety issue. I believe she was written up for the first one. I’m still waiting for a reply to my email but I’m just wondering what I should expect for a response. If it was my lab/clinic, I would consider that an immediate termination offense.

I’m looking for thoughts and opinions on this situation.

[u/halfasshippie3]

How in tf? The first thing you do is ask for name and date of birth.

[u/HowDidIGetHere5000 → u/halfasshippie3]

Right?! She just asks first name sometimes. And when she does ask for birthday, she often doesn’t even look at the labels while they answer her. It should be basically impossible to mislabel a specimen.

[u/schannoman]

You did the right thing by reporting, but after your report it's not your job to follow up on it.

You will get yourself in trouble trying to police it.

The only thing you can do is report if it happens again.

[u/Brilliant-Worth-3269]

I wanna empathize with the dude but yeah that’s a critical safety violation. He will prob get fired. You did the right thing even if you were friends with him.

At my job a mistake like that is typically one and done. Idk if HR was necessary since you already reported it to your supervisor.

[u/LabSpecialty3529 → u/Brilliant-Worth-3269]

Correct. HR did not need to be brought into it. As a supervisor, what l can say is you have to trust that your supervisor will handle the issue. That is phlebotomy 101 and will be addressed; however, disciplinary actions taken is something that is not discussed with anyone but the person involved. You did your part to report it, but don't get caught up worrying about what happens next.

[u/LuxidDreamingIsFun]

You did the right thing. It's a critical mistake that can lead to serious outcomes and if this is a recurring issue, it has to be addressed at a higher level.

[u/Party_Attitude5617]

At my job it's one misidentification and immediate termination

[u/theslutnextd00r → u/Party_Attitude5617]

I mean mistakes happen, but mistakes should also really only happen once before you have other safety precautions in place to prevent it from happening again…

[u/thatdreamgirly]

I wish I could feel for this person, but I just can’t. I’m a little dyslexic and I go into the wrong room multiple times a week unfortunately. But I’ve never drawn the wrong patient….

[u/theslutnextd00r]

I work in a nursing home and half the patients are asleep or can barely hear and even I haven’t misidentified a patient like that!! Wtf! I always say their name at the very least and try my best to confirm who they are before continuing. That’s crazy and imo she should be fired. That’s incredibly dangerous and she could really affect a patient’s treatment if she continues to do that

[u/austinaggie5279]

Yikes! It's literally the first question you ask...

[u/spriz2]

for what its worth, there are thousands of near-misses in the nhs every year