[Identity vigilance and implementation of transfusion software in hospitals].

In hospitals, patients' identity mismatch is the cause of serious incidents during transfusion or other healthcare processes. With a wider use of healthcare software, new dysfunctions and risks may occur in case of ID mismatch between different software and for transfusion between blood bank and hospital. Four critical stages are to be considered when using software management of hospital care: initial patients' identification, modifications of identification data during hospital stay and then synchronization of all different software, proper use of patient's identification means by hospital staff and share of patient's identification data with others such as the Etablissement français du sang (EFS) for transfusional purposes. Perpignan Hospital has put in place an identity vigilance group whose role is to enforce a safe patients' identification policy. It has to inform and train hospital staff, make sure that all software requiring patients' ID are correctly synchronized, especially when sharing data with EFS and monitor improvement with a surveillance system. As transfusion care is one of the more patients' ID sensitive, particularly when computer assisted, haemovigilance officers are highly involved in identity vigilance.