Page 8 - May 2020 Ulupono

Charles K. Yamashiro, MD, ABOG
June 4, 1921 – March 29, 2020
Charles Kouchi Yamashiro, MD, ABOG, who over the course of 35 years delivered generations of babies on the Windward side, passed away on March 29 at his home in Kailua.
Dr. Yamashiro was born June 4, 1921,
on the Libby McNeil Pineapple Camp in Haiku, Kaneohe, Hawai‘i. After attending McKinley High School and Hawaiian Mission Academy, he attended Pacific Union College in California. He received a MS in chemistry from the University of Utah in 1945, before graduating from Loma Linda University Medical School.
While in Medical school he met and married Naomi Kono. He completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Los Angeles County Medical Center. He was then drafted into the U. S. Army Medical Corps. After serving two years in the Army, Dr. Yamashiro established his practice in Kailua, Hawai’i.
On February 27, 1963, Dr. Yamashiro joined Adventist Health Castle, then known as Castle Memorial Hospital, and was
one of three founding physicians of the Windward hospital.
During his time with Castle, Dr. Yamashiro served on multiple committees including: Credentials, By-laws, Tissue and Infections, Utilization Review, Disaster, Inhalation Therapy, Medical Records, Pharmacy and Quality Assurance. He chaired the OB/GYN department nine times.
Adventist Health Castle expresses
its sincere appreciation for the many contributions Dr. Yamashiro and Naomi have made to the medical center and our Windward communities.
8 | ULUPONO - MAY 2020
Understanding the scope of labeling errors
Andrea Suzuki Director of Compliance
Mislabeled and unlabeled specimens can greatly affect patient care and result in increased costs for our healthcare system as a whole. Patients that are the subject of a mislabeled specimen have the risks of undergoing unnecessary surgical or diagnostic procedures or can experience significant delays in the treatment of medical conditions that they never knew they had. Patients may suffer from unneeded stress due to receiving the wrong diagnosis, or having to wait longer for an accurate diagnosis,
or having to go through repeat testing, which can sometimes expose the patient to unnecessary risks.
In addition, the College of Pathologists estimates that the cost of each labeling error is approximately $712 per specimen, resulting in an overall cost of $280,000 per million specimens. Incidentally, labeling errors can contribute to the deterioration of a hospital’s reputation in the community, further exasperating the financial burden that labeling errors cause.
Certain reports estimate that 60-75 percent of errors happen in the preanalytical stage. At Adventist Health Castle, we have policies and procedures that are put in place to reduce the incidents of mislabeled and unlabeled specimens in the preanalytical stage in order to further our efforts to provide the best care to our patients. The following are key takeaways:
• Using the Positive Patient ID number (PPID) is the most efficient way to ensure
proper labeling. It should be done in the presence of the patient, at bedside. Studies have shown that use of PPID results in a clinically significant decrease in mislabeled specimens.
• Whenever labeling, take your time to make sure it’s done right
Ă Identify your opportunities to have “patient identification moments,” some
examples are when labeling at the bedside and when placing sample into a
specimen bag.
• When labeling, do it in the presence of the patient and if possible, ask the patient to
confirm the information on the label.
• Keep patient care areas free and clear of unused labels in order to reduce the risk
that such unused labels will be inappropriately used on the next patient’s specimen
Following these key takeaways ensures that we can continue to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.