Naming babies “Baby-of” at birth: A project to encourage earlier naming of infants in Abu Dhabi

In 2013, Sweihan Healthcare Center, one of several government clinics in Abu Dhabi, catered to 19,349 patients or an average of 52 patients in a day. During the weekdays, close to 80 patients are seen per day, a relatively huge number for a small town clinic. In 2011, the clinic only saw 16,816 patients, which amounts to a 15% increase in two years. Circumstances called for a search for gaps in the system in order to ease the workflow of a steadily increasing patient influx. The focus was mainly on patient identification due to a considerable number of patients having the same name. Data extraction was simplified by the advent of electronic medical records and, as the names of the patients were filtered, one name stood out: “Baby of”. The goal of this project was to track the patients using the name “Baby of”, and change their names in their respective medical records and thus be able to comply with the International Patient Safety Goals (IPSG) of both Joint Commission International [1] and the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi [2].