The first goal of the Joint Commission's 2014 National Patient Safety Goals is to:

The first goal of the Joint Commission's 2014 National Patient Safety Goals is centered on improving the accuracy of patient identification. This goal underscores the critical importance of ensuring that patients are correctly identified before they receive any treatments or medications. Accurate patient identification is foundational to patient safety, as errors in this area can lead to severe consequences, such as administering the wrong treatment or medication to the wrong individual.

By emphasizing improved identification processes, healthcare organizations are encouraged to implement systems that reliably verify a patient's identity, such as using two identifiers (like name and date of birth) rather than relying on a single piece of information. This proactive approach aims to significantly reduce the risk of misidentification, thereby enhancing the overall quality of care provided to patients.