Table I.

Causes of identification errors in medical laboratories.

• Homonymy

• Incorrect patient registration

• Reliance on wrong patient data

• Error in order entry (incorrect or incomplete data entry)

• Order mistranscription

• Collection of biological specimens from the wrong patient

• Inappropriate labeling of specimens

○ Specimens mislabeled

○ Specimens partially labeled

○ Specimens unlabeled

○ Illegible label

• Inaccurate entry or transmission of test results in the Laboratory Information System