How one hospital protected newborn babies from medical errors—just by changing their wristbands

In 2013, researchers working at a Milwaukee hospital made a simple change to the way they identify newborn babies — one that they think could prevent thousands of medical mistakes each year. Right now, babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, often get identification wristbands shortly after their birth with temporary first names such as "Babyboy" or "Babygirl." And that makes sense, because it allows the hospital to immediately provide a newborn with ID, even if his or her parents haven't picked out a name. This practice is common: One survey finds that more than 80 percent of NICUs use this type of naming convention to identify their newborns.