Two common patient identifiers are which two?

• A. Social Security Number and Date of Birth
• B. Patient name and Date of Birth
• C. Patient name and Medical Record Number
• D. Patient address and phone

Answer: (B)

The key idea is confirming who a patient is by using two identifiers to prevent administering care to the wrong person. The combination of patient name and date of birth is the standard pair because names can be common or similar, and the date of birth helps distinguish individuals with the same name. Both are usually recorded in every patient’s record and are easy for staff to verify.

Social Security numbers are sensitive and not routinely used in medical settings due to privacy and security concerns. The medical record number is useful, but it’s specific to one health system and not universally known or verifiable across different facilities. Addresses and phone numbers can change and aren’t reliable on their own for identifying a patient. That’s why name plus date of birth best fits the role of common identifiers.