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Effectiveness of a Biometric Patient Identification System

Authors:
Eman Buhagiar
Clifford De Raffaele

Keywords: medical errors; health organizations; biometrics; patient identification; face recognition

Abstract:
Medical errors, such as patient misidentification, are the cause for around 2.6 million deaths per annum and $42 billion in cost to health organizations in low to middle-income countries. While wristbands are the most common method for identifying patients, they can be easily misplaced and may contain missing or inaccurate information as this study shows. This may result in wrong medications and surgeries and in some instances, even preventable deaths together with liabilities for health organizations. In this study, the current methods and process for identifying patients are investigated, accompanied by a comparison of existing patient identification solutions, as well as issues and concerns about health data protection and privacy. Following this, the effectiveness of biometric technology for patient identification is examined. The paper finally proposes and evaluates a proof of concept with promising results for minimizing patient identification errors.

Pages: 62 to 70

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2021

Publication date: July 18, 2021

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4359

ISBN: 978-1-61208-872-3

Location: Nice, France

Dates: from July 18, 2021 to July 22, 2021