Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER): Patient Identification

Summary

The SAFER Guides are designed to help healthcare organisations conduct self-assessments to optimise the safety and safe use of electronic health records (EHRs). Each of the nine SAFER Guides begins with a Checklist of “recommended practices.”

This Patient Identification SAFER Guide identifies recommended safety practices associated with the reliable identification of patients in the EHRs. Accurate patient  identification ensures that the information presented by and entered into the EHR is associated with the correct person. Processes related to patient identification are complex and require careful planning and attention to avoid errors.

The SAFER Guides are produced by The Office of The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.