[Use of the identification bracelet in the newborn. A safe method?]

BACKGROUND: The placement of newborn bracelets is the most widely used method for patient identification in Argentina.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the permanence of the identification bracelets during the hospitalization.

POPULATION: All the term newborns who remained with their mother. Design: observational, prospective study, cohort type, randomized: forearm, leg.

RESULTS: Cases observed: 914. Forearm: 457, leg: 438. At the time of discharge, the frequency of permanence of the identification bracelets as originally placed was 67% in the forearm and 72% in the leg.

CONCLUSIONS: A third of newborns lacked the bracelet as originally placed at the time of discharge. The permanence was higher in the leg.