When should patient identifiers be verified?

Verifying patient identifiers is crucial in ensuring patient safety and preventing medication errors. This process should occur at various critical points in the medication management process, particularly at the time of prescription transfer. During a prescription transfer, the importance lies in confirming that the correct patient is receiving the right medication and that there are no discrepancies in the prescription information being shared between pharmacies. Without this verification, a patient may receive incorrect medication or dosage, leading to potential harm.

While it's important to verify patient identifiers during various moments, limiting this verification to just during medication dispensing or only at patient intake could increase the risk of errors. Additionally, verifying identifiers at discharge is too late in the process to address issues that may arise during the transfer or dispensing stages. Therefore, validating patient identifiers at the time of prescription transfer serves as a proactive measure to safeguard patient health.