Sunquest Collection Manager:
Positive Patient and Specimen Identification

The implementation of PeC has brought about many changes resulting in improvements to the quality and safety of the care we provide our patients. One such improvement revolves around our process for specimen collection. BWH was the first hospital to implement bedside Sunquest Collection Manager, which allows for positive patient and specimen identification at the point of care.

As we all know, going live with positive patient and specimen identification at the same time we went live with Epic proved to be challenging. Many issues were identified and the clinical and technical teams worked diligently to resolve them. Despite their best efforts, in February 2016, the success rate in use of Collection Manager was hovering at 78 percent – which was certainly not where we wanted to be. The goal of a 90 percent usage success rate, to be achieved by the end of May, was set. Collection Manager reports were made available to nurse directors and clinical nurse educators, and clinical nursing staff actively contributed to the identification and quantification of issues related to the successful use of Collection Manager. As a result of the reporting and follow up of issues, significant improvements have been made. Clearly this effort took a village.

We are so happy to report that in June 2016, all BWH Inpatient Units, including ICU and Intermediate Care Units, had a success rate of 90 percent in using Sunquest Collection Manager to document specimen collections.

Positive patient and specimen identification at the point of care using available bar code scanning technology integrated into our electronic health record is an important component of our patient safety program. Nurses’ continued diligence will help us maintain our success.