The ancient practice of palm reading has become the newest technological addition in the Memorial Healthcare System’s arsenal to enhance patient safety. Patient Secure, recently installed at Memorial Hospital Miramar, relies on palm-vein scanners to accurately identify patients.

The non-invasive, touch-free biometric technology authenticates patients during registration by using infrared light to illuminate the veins in the patient’s palm and then record an image. “This identification method is considered to be highly accurate, since every person’s vein pattern is unique,” said Aurelio Fernandez, administrator, Memorial Hospital Miramar.

Even between identical twins, there is enough variation to create a unique identification that’s stored and associated with a patient’s medical record. “Patient Secure is a great addition to patient safety initiatives here at the hospital because the palm scan becomes part of all our patients’ medical records,” Fernandez explained. “So, even an unconscious patient can be instantly identified and treated.”

This fast identification can be crucial when the patient is critical. For example, a quick “read of the palm,” pulls up the patient’s file and can instantly identify past medical conditions and chronic illnesses like diabetes or allergies. It can also eliminate confusion in the event that there are multiple people on file with similar names.

“Once this is fully implemented, it will become a lot quicker to properly identify our patients which will speed up the registration process” said Fernandez. “Patients will just place their palms on the scanner, tell us their correct date of birth and within seconds, the system displays their medical record number.”

Most importantly, having Patient Secure means improved patient safety. “We need to know if a patient is diabetic, on medication or has recently had a stroke,” Fernandez said. “Time is of the essence in treating so many major medical conditions.”