We use the handwritten Typenex bands currently and we do reject specimens for even slight misspelling errors. We use patient name, DOB, date and initials, we will accept MR#, but prefer DOB so that it can be verified verbally with the patient (if possible). I will not go to a pre-printed label until we have bedside barcoding. We have too many mislabels with the pre-printed labels in the main lab for me to feel comfortable using them for blood bank specimens. The floors all know that we will reject specimens, so they are pretty resigned to the fact of the redraw. There is a very interesting article in Transfusion from 1997 about a study Johns Hopkins did around mislables. they found that specimens that failed to meet the criteria for specimen acceptance were 40 times more likely to have a blood grouping discrepancy. Every time I see a tube with only one letter missing, I always think of that!