ISO 18530:2021 outlines the standards needed to identify and label the Subject of Care (SoC) and the Individual Provider on objects such as identification (wrist) bands, identification tags or other objects, to enable automatic data capture using data carriers in the care delivery process.

It provides for a unique SoC identification that can be used for other purposes, such as recording the identity of the SoC in individual health records.

This document serves as a reference for any organization which plans to implement or improve Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) in their delivery of care process. It is based on the use of the GS1° system of standards. Other solutions, such as using other identification systems (for example, systems based on ISBT 128), are possible but not addressed by this document.

This document describes good practices to reduce/avoid variation and workarounds which challenge the efficiency of AIDC at the point of care and compromise patient safety^[5][6].

This document specifies how to manage identifiers in the AIDC process, and completes the information found in ISO/TS 22220 and ISO/TS 27527.