Quality & Patient Safety

Final FDA bar code reg to help hospitals improve patient safety

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, March 4, 2004

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Hospitals will soon be able to scan bar codes on patients' wristbands and medications to ensure they receive the right drugs and the right doses.

 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 26 published its final rule requiring manufacturers to place bar codes on most prescription and over-the-counter drugs as well as blood products within two years. New drugs must have bar code labels within 60 days of FDA approval.

 

Under the final rule, manufacturers must place the medication's National Drug Code number, which identifies the drug, on the label. Companies may also include the product's lot number and expiration date information, although that is not required.

 

The rule does not require hospitals to implement bar-code technology, although it opens the door for them to do so, says Kasey Thompson, PharmD, director of practice standards and quality division for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

 

"It's a big win for patients," Thompson says. "I think the force of law puts a bit of pressure on the healthcare community to implement this."



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