The Paperless Labeling Initiative: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Traditional paper professional package inserts (PPIs) are used on a daily basis by a variety of healthcare providers to locate and disseminate drug information. Unfortunately, paper PPIs are sometimes not accessible to the healthcare provider, appear unreadable due to varied font sizes, and are often considered not to be user-friendly. In December 2000, the Food and Drug Administration proposed regulations that would revise the format of PPIs.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine whether electronic delivery of PPI information is achievable in community pharmacy practice settings.

METHODS:

Electronic PPIs are an alternative means of delivering this information. This 12-week proof-of-concept study evaluated the Health Information Designs/Thomson Healthcare and Etreby Computer Company for electronic delivery of PPIs in 6 chain and 4 independent community pharmacies, with 5 pharmacies evaluating each system. Participating pharmacists were asked 9 questions designed to determine the feasibility of implementing electronic PPI delivery, as well as pharmacist satisfaction with each system.

RESULTS:

Pharmacists deemed both systems to be accessible and user-friendly. Pharmacists from both groups felt that the electronic PPIs were challenging to read and that printing took too long.

CONCLUSIONS:

Future studies in a more diverse selection of dispensing sites, including pharmacies (community and hospital based), clinics, and physician practices, need to be performed to maximize the use of electronic PPIs.