Reference no: EM133398430

Case: Diana is one of the phlebotomists in an outpatient blood-drawing center. It has been a very busy day. It is now 6:00PM and only one patient remains. Diana has a requisition for a Mrs. Jane Smith for a CBC and glucose. Diana is very tired and must leave to pick up her child at the child- care facility. The patient is an elderly woman who is sitting in the waiting room reading a magazine. Diana tells the woman, "Oh, you must be Ms. Smith, my last patient." Diana then leads the woman to a blood-drawing chair. The patient is a difficult draw and requires two attempts to obtain the blood sample. Five minutes later, a younger woman comes into the blood- drawing center and tells the receptionist that she is Mrs. Smith.

Questions:

What errors did Diana commit?
How should patient identification be established?
What considerations in working with geriatric patient need to be considered?

Case: Michelle has two patients with very similar names on her phlebotomy requisition list: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Brown and Mrs. Elizabeth M. Brown. When Michelle entered the room designated for Mrs. Elizabeth B. Brown, she found patient Elizabeth M., at least as indicated by the patient's identification band. Michelle immediately reported the mix-up in patient location to the nurse's station. Mrs. Manley was at the desk and was the nurse in charge of these patients. Mrs. Manley was a good friend of Michelle's. When Michelle told Mrs. Manley of the mix-up in ID or location, Ms. Manley told her not to worry, she would fix the problem, and because no harm has occurred, she did not think that there was any need to report this problem to any other nurse or her supervisor.

Questions:

What should Michelle do?
What problems may have occurred if Michelle had not noticed this error?
What ethical issues are present?