Alias in BB

[StephanieM]

How do you handle patients who are registered under an alias? Not John or Jane Doe but and actual name.

I have a patient who has been here in the past but to bring in the current specimen, our system is going to make us change the name from the patient's real name to the alias name. I'm not 100% on the legal issues with this (units to be transfused has been ordered) but I'm also thinking about the issues that are going to be created when the patient comes back again but under their real name.

[PAWHITTECAR]

Does your LIS not have a way to log alternate or "alias" names? We often would get trauma specimens with a "trauma name" like ie. RJZ1234 Hispanic, Male, Then in the middle of the trauma they would put in his real name, ie. Jaun Ortiz, then 2 hours later we would go to issue blood and his name is James Smith (hospital assigned alias). Got really confusing in blood bank but the HIS (MediTech) had a great way to tie the names together.

Are they using the same medical record number? This would be a way to tie the two together in the system.

If your system can't tie them together I would put a detailed note on both names for future reference.

I think legally your ok as long as you can tie the names together and the patient is not using the "alias" to commit fraud - like to use someone else's insurance. (Just my opinion).

[StephanieM]

It can connect the names and I can add a comment but future visits would be a mess. You can't see the comment until after the patient is pulled up and you can't pull the patient up until you confirm the name. On a future visit, the tech and more than likely the nurse isn't going to know the patient had a previous alias for us to be able to confirm the name.

We have McKesson by the way.

It is taken care of now, apparently the nurses and registration got confused on how to handle this patient, they were not suppose to register the patient with the alias, the alias was only suppose to be used on the board and the outside of the chart......

- - - Updated - - -

It can connect the names and I can add a comment but future visits would be a mess. You can't see the comment until after the patient is pulled up and you can't pull the patient up until you confirm the name. On a future visit, the tech and more than likely the nurse isn't going to know the patient had a previous alias for us to be able to confirm the name.

We have McKesson by the way.

It is taken care of now, apparently the nurses and registration got confused on how to handle this patient, they were not suppose to register the patient with the alias, the alias was only suppose to be used on the board and the outside of the chart......

[PAWHITTECAR]

Wow..glad you got it fixed soulds like it could of been a nightmare.

[BankerGirl]

Trish,

I am currious about your process for identifying aliases. We use Meditech as well, and if the name on the request does not match the name on the tube (or in the case of already setup components, the component tag) then we require the specimen to be redrawn and we start over. I thought we had to do this to fulfill the standards, but after re-reading them, I see that there is standard 5.23, Discrepancy Resolution, states "...Discrepancies shall be resolved before issue." which seems to leave the door open to many things.

[PAWHITTECAR]

We printed an audit log that shows when the name was changed in admissions. This log show the old name, new name date and time of change as well as who changed it. Once we verify that everythink matched and admissions had made the change we reprint unit tags. I can't remember exactly where it was in the Admissions module I think. It worked because we had MediTech hospital wide. FDA inspected us and were fine with the practice.

[BBCLS]

How do you handle patients who are registered under an alias? Not John or Jane Doe but and actual name.

I have a patient who has been here in the past but to bring in the current specimen, our system is going to make us change the name from the patient's real name to the alias name. I'm not 100% on the legal issues with this (units to be transfused has been ordered) but I'm also thinking about the issues that are going to be created when the patient comes back again but under their real name.

What is the purpose of the Alias? Is it change of married name? We keep track using social security or medical record #. Sometimes per admission a patient could change from Trauma name to real name then VOV (victim of violence) name. The hospital and Lab computer should be able to communicate.

[carolyn swickard]

We have a specific Blood Bank ID band and we also follow the Medical record number and the hospital account number (encounter number). If they stay the same during the name change - we reprint tags and are OK to issue. (also on Meditech) The only time the medical record number may also change is if the pt comes in as an "unidentified" and is sssigned the next MR# in line and then they find the pt has an older number - still have the BB ID # and the Hospital's number to keep the pt straight. Even given all that - as soon as possible - if there is no emergency event going on - we will redraw with the new name and use the new ID for as long as it lasts. Admissions is tasked with making sure all of the alias names are rechanged to the real name after the pt is discharged so the records will be all together, but I have seen many instances were it doesn't happen. All in all, alias names are a real mess and I do wish they would avoid them on Blood Bank pts - but might as well wish for the moon.

[cthherbal ☆]

We are struggling with this as well. We are manual in BB but use lab labels for some of our paperwork. When names are changed, even if its just adding/removing a middle initial and or Jr/Sr. It's a huge mess. We normally require a new sample in these situations but do get approval to deviate from policy when necessary.