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Positive Patient ID Armband
Having your child wear a patient identification (ID) armband promotes safety and helps us know exactly who each child is and what they need.
A positive patient identification (PPID) armband helps St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital care providers make sure that your child gets safe and correct care.
Each armband has your child’s legal name and medical record number (MRN). This information allows St. Jude staff to check your child’s identity while they are at the hospital.
What to expect
After completing the new patient registration appointment on the first day at St. Jude, your child gets an armband at check-in each day at registration or the clinic location. They also get one if they stay overnight in one of the inpatient rooms.
Checking the PPID armband
We call the process of checking your child’s armband “Show me, tell me.”
- Show me: A St. Jude staff member will look at your child’s armband. They will ask for your child’s legal name and medical record number (MRN). Your child’s legal name is the name on their birth certificate. It is usually their first name and last name.
- Tell me: You may say the legal name and MRN, or your child may answer if they are old enough.
Research shows that families and caregivers who help hospital staff identify patients correctly can help lower the number of mistakes. This is why we ask you to help us check the armband.
St. Jude staff will check your child’s armband often.
Show me, tell me: A staff member will check your child’s armband and ask for their legal name and MRN.
Using a scanner to check ID
St. Jude staff may also scan your child’s armband with a barcode scanner. The scanner helps a computer check that your child gets the right medicines and the right doses.
We also use scanners when we:
- Take samples for blood tests
- Give your child medicine
- Give your child blood products
- Get ready for certain tests or procedures
Your child’s preferred name and pronouns
We must use your child’s legal name to check their ID.
But we know that your child might prefer to be called a name other than their legal one. If so, you can ask St. Jude staff to call them the name that your child prefers.
Your child can also ask us to use the gender pronouns they identify with. The pronoun is the word we sometimes use instead of your name, such as “he,” “she,” or “they.” It is the word your child wants us to use when we talk to your child or about your child.