How should the patient be identified?

Answer 1

It certainly depends on the situation, for an EMT for example, the patient may be with a parent/guardian or friend or other family who can provide the information, however should there be no one else around, they could be identified by an ID card or driver license in a wallet.

Answer 2

Patient identification is not always straight-forward. So hospitals and State Boards for licensure have developed standards to add safety before administering medications, treatments, and even surgeries. Rule One: Do not rush. Do not "practice distracted"; pay attention to what you are doing or about to do. Then, the questions medical staff must ask themselves are, "Is it the...."

• Correct medication/treatment
• Correct Dr's Order, signed, dated, or has it been discontinued
• Correct Dosage - Some meds require a 2nd R.N. to observe the drug being pulled into the syringe
• Correct Time to administer the med/treatment
• Correct Rate (if IV or IV push or IV piggy back)
• Am I in the correct patient room
• Correct patient bed
• Correct patient -- Which entails further steps, like:
• Patient's Name confirmed, if possible, with the patient
• Patient's sex (example: "Billy" can be the name for male or female. Many people share the same last name even if unrelated: You don't want to give Mary Smith a drug intended for MaryAnn Smith.)
• Correct Patient / Hospital ID # on ID band
• Correct Patient birth date confirmed, if possible, with patient
• Correct administration route and method (oral, rectal, IM, SubQ, sublingual, "push IV", piggyback IV etc). There can be dangerous results from administering the right drug via the wrong administration route.
• Correct administration site (thigh/bicep, lower abdomen, IV site, subclavian, etc)
• Correct side (example: right leg versus left leg; is it a rotating site such as for IMs, etc)
• Re-check and re-verification of known Allergies before administering a med
• A double-check with another R.N. on some meds for correct med, correct dose, before administering; some drugs require counter-signatures of 2 R.N.'s for administration

There may be a few I've forgotten here. The best policy is to double and triple-check every possible way and use extreme caution before putting something in a patient's body that could do harm (as all meds have the potential to do).

Answer 3

Usually by a wrist bracelet with the patients name and who their doctor is.