A ‘sentinel event’ is defined by the Joint Commission as “an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof ” ( 2). These misidentifications can lead to a medical misadministration and falls under the category of a ‘sentinel event’. Unfortunately, the most popular identifier, wristbands, is proving to have an unacceptable error rate.

Accreditation by the Joint Commission demands accuracy of patient identification by using at least two patient identifiers ( 1).

The number of serious or even fatal consequences is growing. Patient identification and procedure verification are well-known problems in the medical industry. This may prevent a possible surgical mistake. In the surgery room, a webcam displayed the patient’s real-time image next to the 3D model. A surgeon could mark ‘O’ on the model and save a snap shot of patient in the preparation room. The registration process for surgery patients includes an additional module, which has a 3D patient model. To validate the system, 143 and 21 patients ranging from 36 to 98 years of ages were recruited from radiotherapy and breast surgery, respectively. To identify a patient, the BAPPIS reads a fingerprint, identifies the patient, verifies with a second fingerprint to confirm when multiple patients have same fingerprint features, and connects to the patient’s record in electronic medical record (EMR) systems. To register a patient, the BAPPIS system requires three steps: capturing a photograph using a web camera for photo identification, taking at least two fingerprints, and recording other specific patient information including name, date of birth, allergies, etc. The system was developed using C++, the Microsoft Foundation Class Library, the Oracle database system, and a fingerprint scanner.

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