The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7380 p751
17 December 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

PDF 40K, Acrobat Reader

· Connecting for health
· Packaging
· Preregistration payments
· Other professions
· The Guild
· Pharmacy monitoring
· Internet eye drops
· Preregistration training
· The Journal

Letters to the Editor

Packaging

Overuse of colour will not help to reduce dispensing errors

From Mr S. H. Willgress, MRPharmS

I welcome the recently published “Information design for patient safety” by designer Thea Swayne (PJ, 15 October, p472, and 22 October, p507), which focuses on simple changes to design which can make medicines packaging safer for patients. One of the solutions proposed is the avoidance of colour coding, which can lead to users not reading the text on a package. Other design improvements suggested include the placement of the drug name and strength above a standard block of space provided for the dispensing label, and the use of legible font sizes.

Although this guide is insightful and balanced, it is our recent experience that the product information unit (PIU) at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has taken up the colour differentiation aspect with single-minded advocacy. However, there are a finite number of legible contrasting colour combinations that could be used, many fewer than the number of products on the shelves of any dispensary. Indeed Ms Swayne suggests that colour differentiation needs to be approached with care.

I see no substitute for maximum legibility of the product name and strength with adequate space for clear directions. There are more ways to achieve this than with a kaleidoscope of colours. The overuse of colour will not help to reduce errors. We would advocate the use of set colours for strengths, eg, as already successfully used for warfarin. This could use up to five colours, eg, white, yellow, red etc. The focus needs to be on the readability of packs.

It should never be forgotten that there is no substitute for the role of the pharmacist and medical staff as the people responsible for checking the product labelling.

Stephen Willgress
Technical Director
Athlone Laboratories
Ireland

Send your letter to The Editor

Previous Topic (Connecting for health)
Next Topic (Registration payments)