Stakeholders celebrate the launch of a Canada-wide effort for standardized bar-coding on medications.
Partners launch initiative paving the way for standardized bar-coding on medications
Will help reduce risk for human error, enhance patient safety, stakeholders say
Thursday February 4, 2010 -- Natalie Hamilton
TORONTO - A nationwide effort to introduce standardized bar-coding on medications for improved patient safety in Canada was officially launched yesterday at a press conference in Toronto.

The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada), together with GS1 Canada and healthcare industry partners, announced a consensus has been reached on a standard format for labelling medication packaging. The group is promoting automated drug identification in Canada using GS1 global bar-coding standards.

The initiative reduces the risk for human error and adverse drug-related events, thereby enhancing patient safety, stakeholders said.

"Our announcement is a big first step," noted Pierrette Leonard, senior adviser, national partners, for CPSI.

"It's the first of many steps towards the development of a safer healthcare system."

Bar-coding allows for the tracking of medications from the point of manufacturing to the point of administering the medication to patients, according to GS1 Canada. Utilizing technology is crucial in the 21st century, said David U, president and CEO of ISMP Canada.

"Relying only on human vigilance to ensure medication safety is not enough," he said.

"With over 30,000 commercial drug products in the marketplace, there is a significant and overdue need for a co-ordinated approach to bar-coding pharmaceuticals in order to enable automated identification throughout the Canadian healthcare system."
 
ISMP Canada and CPSI first highlighted the need for a pan-Canadian standard for bar-coding in a document published in July 2008.

The initiative is being guided by a national implementation committee and is being developed with the assistance of a 34-member task force representing six sectors of healthcare.

Once implemented, commercial drug products on the Canadian market will all use the GS1 bar-coding system.

The Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC) is supporting the project.

"We're very pleased to be part of this," Eleanor Morton, vice-president of risk management for HIROC, told Axiom News.

"It's a very important initiative that will indeed improve patient safety in Canada."

The Canadian Institute for Health Information estimates that medication errors impact more than one million patients each year.

Of that number, more than 700 patients die every year in Canada, as a result of preventable medication mistakes.

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