Pharmacy Corner
RESOURCES FOR PHARMACY

14/10/2007

ISMP Canada Circulates Pharmaceutical Bar Coding Discussion Paper

ISMP Canada is currently circulating a discussion paper titled Pharmaceutical Bar Coding to Improve Patient Saftey – A Canadian Perspective, an initiative it hopes will lead to the development of voluntary national guidelines for manufacturers on bar coding medications at the unit-dose.

Standardized bar coding at unit-dose level coupled with the necessary infrastructure for health care providers, the paper contends, can reduce errors during dispensing and administration of medications. Such “bedside” errors were shown to account for a significant percentage of all medication errors in US based studies.

The paper provides an overview of the various options for standardizing bar code technology and presents several such US based initiatives while identifying challenges unique to the Canadian environment.

PPC has long recognized the immense value that unit-dose bar coding can add to improving safety. PPC products have been bar coded at the unit-dose since 2005. We are proud to be a contributing sponsor of this important ISMP initiative.

To obtain a copy of Pharmaceutical Bar Coding to Improve Patient Safety – A Canadian Perspective please email your request to info@ismp-canada.org.

ISMP Canada website

PPC's Bar Coding Initiatives