Colour-coded hospital bracelets

WalkieTalkie, RN · Feb 6, 2009

I like this idea. Right now all of our allergy bracelets are green despite if they say "allergies" or "NKDA." Our blood bands are red, and our regular patient bands are white. We put orange socks on our fall patients, which, of course, is pointless if you don't have them on because you are dopplering pulses every hour, or if the patinet has pulled them off. We have nothing to denote DNR or DNI status, but that would be nice!

talaxandra · Feb 6, 2009

What are blood bands?

WalkieTalkie, RN · Feb 6, 2009

What are blood bands?

The bands we use to identify the patient to their crossmatched blood.

massrn116 · Feb 6, 2009

The problem with the bracelet color coding system is that a patient could have multiple bracelets that could potentially dig into their skin, etc. We just starting using small plastic , triangular clip-ons, to put on the inpatient bracelet. Red=allergy, yellow=latex purple=fall risk. They seem to be working well so far.

talaxandra · Feb 6, 2009

When we give blood the patient has blood taken (which lasts three days) that is cross-matched in the lab. The unit is labelled on collection with type of product, type of blood type, unit number, collection and expiration dates; all this information. Once cross-matched it's labelled with the patient's name, hospital ID number, birth date and blood type.

We check that the label details match the details on the blood bag, and the order for the blood, then check against the patient.

What do you guys do? I'm guessing the blood band replaces at least some of this.

WalkieTalkie, RN · Feb 6, 2009

When we give blood the patient has blood taken (which lasts three days) that is cross-matched in the lab. The unit is labelled on collection with type of product, type of blood type, unit number, collection and expiration dates; all this information. Once cross-matched it's labelled with the patient's name, hospital ID number, birth date and blood type.
We check that the label details match the details on the blood bag, and the order for the blood, then check against the patient.
What do you guys do? I'm guessing the blood band replaces at least some of this.

Actually, it's all that and one more step. Each blood band has a unique number on it. The unique number is sent to blood bank with the initial type and cross (also good for 3 days). When we get the blood, it does have all that info on it, but we also match it up with the unique blood band number.

Each time a new crossmatch is ordered, a new blood band is applied.

JMA-RN2B · Feb 6, 2009

We just had a new policy with colored arm bands in place. We have a yellow-ish typenex band for the blood, just like before. We just added a yellow band which represents fall risk, a purple band which indicates a DNR status and red which is of course allergies. I've heard a lot of positivie about the system.

cmyersRN · Feb 6, 2009

At my hospital we utilize color-coded hospital bracelets for a few different things. Standard patient bracelet is blue and the allergy bracelet is red. If they are DNR they get a purple bracelet that has DNR printed on it. If they are a high fall risk they have a yellow bracelet with FALL RISK printed on it and they also wear green hospital gowns as opposed to our regular hospital gowns so they are easily identifiable to staff. Our facility has made a big push to lessen the risk of lymphadema due to standard hospital procedures, so for example a woman who has had mastectomy with a node removed will have a pink bracelet that has LIMB ALERT printed on it to signify that no injections, IVs, blood pressures, etc can be performed on that arm.

stressgal, RN · Feb 6, 2009

I Found the following article:

Hospitals standardize wristbands

By Associated Press

POSTED: 11:26 a.m. EST, Oct 20, 2008

CLEVELAND: Hospitals in Ohio are moving toward a standard color-code system for patient wristbands, to lessen the risk of errors.

Last year, medical facilities in the state used an array of 19 different colors on 28 different types of bands, according to a survey from the Ohio Patient Safety Institute.

The institute formed by state hospital and physician associations has recommended just four colors: white or clear for patient ID; red for allergies; yellow for a patient at risk of falling; and green for those receiving blood products.

Director of quality improvement Rosalie Weakland with the Ohio Hospital Association says more than half its members have adopted the new system, and others are coming on board.

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Information from The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com.

Our hospital switched to the same color coded system 1/1/09. We do also add a purple band/sticker for chart for those contraindicated for MRI, a band/sticker for code status and a colored sleeve on a limb not be used for bp pr needle sticks. We also place small yellow fleece blankets on fall risk patient's beds. Not sure how effective the blankets are as I have never seen one hold a patient in bed when they were determined to ambulate, and fall, on their own, LOL. Most of our patient's in the ICU are quite colorful. Joking aside I think it is important to patient safety for a unification of alerts. I can imagine a day when there will be a national standard placed by Joint Commission.

BookwormRN · Feb 6, 2009

In Wisconsin, there is a push to make all bands the same statewide.

We are currently compliant with this:

Red-allergy band

Yellow-falls risk

Purple-DNR

White-Pt ID

I don't think I've missed any...

We also have the narrow red blood band for our crossmatched Pts. (these in no way would be confused with the wide red allergy bands.)

Chixie · Feb 6, 2009

Wow, we only have two bands

White-patient id band

Red-allergies

I do like the sound of the DNR and falls risk bands