Proliferating bracelets could pose hazards for patients

Potential confusion over the brightly colored wristbands has raised safety concerns at some hospitals.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Jan. 3/10, 2005.

The worlds of fashion, fund-raising and patient safety have collided, and the result is a rainbow of colored bracelets that can indicate either support for scientific research or the contents of a patient's living will.

At issue are bracelets that show support for a cause and are the same color as the bracelets hospitals use to identify patients with do-not-resuscitate orders or for other designations. There are concerns about patient safety because, even though the bracelets are made of different materials, the similar colors might cause confusion during an emergency.

Such a concern was first publicly raised within the four Morton Plant Mease Health Care hospitals on Florida's West Coast, which are part of the nine-hospital BayCare Health System. BayCare facilities use a yellow plastic bracelet to indicate a patient's DNR status. The popular LIVESTRONG rubber bracelets sold by the Lance Armstrong Foundation are almost exactly the same color.

"About a month ago, one of the nurses in our health system identified that the Lance Armstrong yellow bracelet could be confused with our DNR yellow bracelet," said Lisa Johnson, RN, Morton Plant Mease Health Care vice president, patient services.

Johnson said the decision was made to ask patients either to remove the LIVESTRONG bracelet or to put white tape over it. So far, she said, patients have understood the issues and complied without complaint.

"Seconds count in a decision whether to resuscitate someone or not," Johnson said. "In the highly charged environment of a cardiac pulmonary arrest, we don't want any confusion whatsoever."