Simple design changes can make drug packs safer
Packs using the book’s examples have been mocked up by designers |
Simple changes to design can make medicines packaging safer for patients, a guide launched this week suggests.
“Information design for patient safety” (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. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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