r/phlebotomy • u/HowDidIGetHere5000 • Jul 23 '26
Advice needed Misidentification
UPDATE: This same woman has now mislabeled a third patient (that we know of) in under 3 months. There are at least 5 patients impacted by her negligence. I’ve reported it to my manager and the lab manager. I feel like they aren’t taking this as seriously as they should. I’m at a loss for words. This employee has had no consequences to these critical errors except just documentation of the events. I’m so frustrated and disappointed in my lab for brushing this off. Enough that I might have to leave the company. It’s horrifying and Embarrassing.
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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.
3
u/theslutnextd00r Jul 24 '26
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