ALWAYS Check Two Identifiers – In a Hospital or a Casino

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In hospitals, there's a big emphasis on healthcare professionals always checking TWO patient identifiers to help avoid getting the wrong patient. You might have two patients with the same name, so you should also check the birth date (since it's less likely to have two people with the same name and birth date… but not impossible!). This “always” checking two identifiers, sadly, doesn't always happen.

What we do in hospitals is such important work – it can be a matter of life and death. But, when a casino makes a mistake, it's sort of funny (unless you're the casino owner, of course). See this article:

Casino awards two men $1 million prizes after name mix-up

Two guys named Kevin Lewis… the casino announced a winner verbally… hilarity ensued… I'll give credit to the casino for owning up to their mistake and giving the prize to BOTH Kevins.


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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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