Hello to all, The hospitals in our system that use a independent "Blood Bank" bracelet in addition to the hospital patient ID band, are required to retest the front type of the sample, preferable by a different individual. If there is not a second or "independent BB bracelet" for ID then a second specimen, collected at a different time from the initial specimen is used to perform a blood type to validate the initial blood type. If the patient has historical results or has an autologous unit that can be used to validate the current results then that serves as the second check. This is our current process. Monitoring of the process has been in effect for a long time. The processing (specimen receipt) area checks specimen labels to be sure that the information in complete, if incomplete it is rejected and is counted as a mislabeled specimen. This data is tallied and monitored (lab services - not specific to Transfusion Services). Other ways to suggest mislabeled specimens: receipt of duplicate specimens (received close together), receipt of specimens for testing when blood is already set, receipt of specimens with a handwritten label (when there is no problem with the computer/printers), Testing - current results don't match historical results, testing requested when not indicated (i.e. immune globulin screen). The incidents when the mislabeled specimens actually reach the Transfusion Services and are determined to be wrong patient (not clerical - missing/wrong information) are presented to the Hospital Quality Executive meeting (Senior management/board member level) on a quarterly basis (they expect action from those areas where the incident occurred)... we are currently working on a barcoded system for Patient Identification. Remember they are looking for a process to prevent, catch and monitor, and show actions for improvement and then evaluate the effectiveness of that action regarding mislabeled incidents. Look to see what you are already doing and write it down. I am sure that you have procedures for specimen collection and acceptance, you have training, you have competencies, you have performance evaluations, you have unacceptable specimens (from time to time), and you may even find one or two of those specimens that were collected from the wrong patient (I'm sure that those get quite a bit of attention) - how do you deal with them?