Helping others through better medical labeling

Having clear, decipherable packaging on medication can start a trickle-down effect that helps not just the patients who will be taking the drugs but the doctors and medical professionals responsible for prescribing them. A recent article in Pain Medicine News examined the ways that better labeling might actually promote safety and help reduce costs.

Citing information from the Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and a 2006 study on the subject, the article notes that a third of all errors involving medication have to do with improper labeling on the package. This can include packaging labels that don’t accurately communicate details about the product itself and even lead to misuse of the medicine.

In the article, the head of the ISMP, Dr. Michael Cohen, expressed optimism while identifying some of the negative trends that labels need to fight against.

“I believe we have the safest drug product labeling and packaging around the world,” he said. However, later on in the piece he is quoted describing some of the unnecessary and troublesome elements present in bad labeling: “There can be so many distractions on a label: corporate logos, different colors, highly stylized graphics.”

An example of a lawsuit being made over faulty labeling can be seen in a recent story on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago: a woman is claiming that a lack of proper dosage information on medicine prescribed to her husband led to an imbalance that ultimately resulted in his death.

Label printers can thus be tools used to preserve high standards of healthcare and help save people’s lives, not just to meet standard regulations. You can use professional labelmaking technology to double-check designs and print out sufficient copies of a label once it has been confirmed.