Unique Device Identifier (UDI) Playbook
A Playbook for Health System Unique Device Identifier Implementation at the Point of Care
As health systems continue to focus on interoperability, patient safety, and real-world evidence, Unique Device Identifier implementation remains a critical foundation. NEST’s UDI Playbook offers practical guidance for health systems working to capture UDIs at the point of care and make device information more usable across clinical care, supply chain, recalls, research, and patient safety.
Use of the UDI provides many benefits to improve the safety and delivery of patient care through applications in clinical decision-making, in recall management, and in health system operational functions that underpin safe and high-quality clinical care.
Optimizing the potential for this multitude of benefits requires that the UDI be captured at the point of care (POC) by health system information technology (IT) systems. To date, however, only a limited number of health systems have taken steps to capture UDI data electronically at the POC and use that data as the single “source of truth” regarding medical device utilization in patient care.
In this setting, the UDI Playbook was created for health systems to advance UDI implementation at the POC and UDI availability in RWD sources in their respective health systems. This will serve to augment real-world evidence (RWE) generation about medical devices for improved patient care and safety.