[e-drug] Information design for patient safety

[stein@lyftingsmo.no]

E-Drug: Information design for patient safety
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[http://www.pjonline.com/editorial/20051015/news/p472drugpacks.html Copied from Pharmaceutical Journal as fair use. SL]

Simple changes to design can make medicines packaging safer for patients, a guide launched this week suggests.

Information design for patient safety
http://www.theaswayne.co.uk/IDfPS.pdf (4.3 MB)
by designer Thea Swayne gives guidance on the design of prescription medicine packs including blister packs and all types of secondary packaging. The book is the result of a collaboration by the National Patient Safety Agency, the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre and the Royal College of Art.

Ms Swayne mapped the journey of a medicine pack, from the manufacturing 
plant to patients' bins, looking at the problems each group of people in the supply chain had using the packs in real situations.

She also interviewed patients in their homes to find out the day-to-day 
obstacles they encountered when dealing with their medicines.

These difficulties were then used as a basis for examples of effective use of design for medicine packs. For instance, the book recommends that a 70 x 35mm white space be left for the dispensing label, that the generic name and strength be repeated above this space and on at least three non-opposing faces and that on all the packaging emphasis should be placed on the generic, rather than brand, name. Advice on clear typography and judicious use of colour differentiation is also included.

Dummy packs incorporating these recommendations were presented at the 
book's launch, including pack designs that could be fitted in a folder that would contain all the medicines a patient was prescribed.

Stein Lyftingsmo
Hospital Pharmacy of Elverum, Norway
stein@lyftingsmo.no
www.lyftingsmo.no