Purpose for the program: To comply with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's recommendation for DNA sample identification of infants

Proposed change:   MedStar Health decided to pilot the DNA Blood Spot program at Harbor Hospital to supplement its current infant safety methods of:   infant/parent banding, employee names tags, unbilicial cord detectors, foot printing, parent education and locked units.

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: The Center for Missing and Exploited Children states it is essential to have a sample of blood or salvia from every infant on file, until the baby is discharged. The preferred sample is blood since salvia contains bacteria and enzymes that eventually affect the DNA sample. The problem is that there are issues with storage of tubes of blood from each infant.  The DNA Blood Spot program samples several drops of cord blood on a treated filter paper immediately at birth and is placed in a special treated envelope for long term preservation and storage.  One advantage of the MedStar program is that it  uses cord  blood and the infant does not have to endure a heel stick.  The Florida program uses blood from a heel stick.  The MedStar procedure is done immediately after delivery whereas the Flroida program is done within the first few hours after birth.  Policies, procedures, staff education, provider education, parent education and clinical competencies were all developed for the program.  It was implemented at Harbor Hospital by the nursing education staff in their Birthing Center.  Harbor Hospital uses a LDRP model, therefore all staff were cross trained. Information was shared with the providers at medical staff meetings and also through written communications.  The outcomes that were measured were:  compliance rate for completion of the sampling and documentation and patient satisfaction.  When audited there was 100% compliance with the sampling documentation and a significant increase in patient satisfaction scores related to recommending the hospital.   An unexpected outcome was market differentiation because no other hospitals in the region are using this patient safety measure.  Harbor Hospital has received a lot of positive press as a result of this program and has come to be known as the "Safe Harbor" to have your baby. 

Implications for nursing practice: Patient identification is totally a nursing function and has the most profound implications for patient safety and security.  A huge advantage of this program is the ability to give the parents the sample for safe keeping for the future. 

Keywords: Infant Security, Infant identification, DNA Sampling