4-3.
THE PATIENT'S IDENTIFICATION BLOCK
a. Verify Patient Information. The first thing you should look at is the lower
left-hand corner of the form (figure 4-4).
(1) Check for the patient's name. Then, verify the family member prefix plus
social security number (SSN). (In this case, the sponsor prefix, 20, precedes the SSN,
indicating the patient is the service member.) Next, look for the component, rank, and
unit, to include the unit address and telephone number. The unit is needed so that the
patient may be reached, if necessary. Note that the patient's full name is required so as
to avoid confusion with others of the same name. (This common error of omission
makes it hard to determine whether the patient is the soldier, a dependent, or perhaps
even another soldier, entirely.) One other common error is using the sponsor prefix, 20,
when the patient is one of the soldier's dependents. The X-ray request slip must
provide the radiographer needs to demonstrate pathology radiographically. Equally
important, is administrative information about the patient. The patient's rank, if military,
is needed so that the patient can be properly addressed by health care providers. The
sponsor's social security number (SSN) is needed for film filing purposes.
(2) Consider figure 4-5 below. Note that right below the SSN block is film
number block. Thus, the sponsor's SSN also serves as the film number for tracking
purpose. The first time a patient is sent to the Radiology Department with an X-ray
request slip, a radiology file envelope (used to store the patient's radiographs) is started.
For ease of retrieval, the terminal (last four) digits of the sponsor's SSN are placed
lengthwise along the right edge of the envelope and are color coded (figure 4-6). The
full SSN is also placed across the top right corner of the folder, with each of the digits
from 0 to 9 assigned a different color. In the case of SFC Deborah H. Berry, whose
terminal digits are 0000, four orange zeroes would be placed lengthwise on the right
edge of her folder, as shown in figure 4-6. The four big color-coded stickers can be
instantly picked out, whereas the handwritten name and full SSN (which also appear on
the form take more time to locate and read. You can appreciate the importance of
accuracy on the SF 519-B X-ray request slip when you consider that key pieces of
information (sponsor's SSN, family member prefix, name, terminal digits of the SSN,
etc.) are transposed from the SF 519-B onto the patient's radiographic envelope and
other documents.
MD0961
4-7