ACT Health has been lauded on the international stage for the introduction of barcodes to ensure hospital patients are correctly identified.
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The electronic positive patient identification (PPID) system replaces the need for handwritten labels, which have previously caused problems for ACT Health.
The system uses a unique barcode on the patient's wristband, cross referencing this with, for example, blood tests ordered.
ACT Health was awarded the GS1 Healthcare best provider implementation case study award in Chicago earlier this week. GS1 is a not-for-profit organisation that, among other business communication efforts, aims to have safer and more efficient care in hospitals. They are best known for developing the barcode.
The award recognises the Canberra Hospital's new system to reduce errors.
Fairfax Media revealed in March that an internal audit of pathology sample management at the Canberra Hospital from September 2016 found a consistently high number of incidents of "non-compliance with specimen labelling and patient identification" in the emergency department and ward 14B over the past two years.
Such errors can lead to people getting the wrong treatments and in the most dire of cases, receiving the wrong blood in transfusions.
As part of a wider response to the critical audit, hospital management agreed to review practices in the emergency department to ensure staff followed the "positive patient identification requirements for the collection and labelling of blood samples".
The errors mainly stemmed from staff, under constant pressure in busy wards, failing to positively identify patients during blood sample collections and ensure blood samples were correctly labelled for the pathology unit to do the right tests.
ACT Health chief information officer Peter O'Halloran said the new system, which was currently being implemented, would ensure accurate record-keeping for better patient outcomes.
"A lot of work has taken place to develop the framework to support the implementation of PPID across Canberra Hospital, so it is great to win this global GS1 healthcare award," Mr O'Halloran said.
"The award demonstrates how ACT Health is using technology to transform the health system care provided to patients at Canberra Hospital."
The use of the GS1 standards for PPID at the Canberra Hospital have resulted in a reduction in the number of errors within the pathology ordering and collection process. The same solution can be used in other areas, like bedside medication administration.
GS1 Australia industry manager healthcare Catherine Koetz said they look forward to continuing their support of ACT Health.
"We are really pleased to see ACT Health receive this recognition from their global peers," Ms Koetz said.
"They took an innovative approach to ensure that all stakeholders were engaged and as a result, have provided the foundations for their digital future within the health service."
