Catalent launches new kit labeling system to reduce 'risk of human error'
According to Steve McMahon, Operations Manager, Clinical Supply Services at Catalent, the new system was developed in response to clinical sites that would manually write kit identification numbers on an unlabelled package’s side, because the original label becomes obscured due to the way kits are stored.
“The manual writing of kit identification numbers, which is a work-around by the clinical staff to address this issue, may hinder the efficiency and accuracy of the storage and distribution process, while posing a risk to patient safety,” McMahon told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
The new system, Peel-ID seeks to reduce a patient’s risk of receiving the incorrect medication at clinical sites.
“By using a Peel-ID label, the risk of human error resulting from the incorrect kit being pulled from inventory due to illegible handwriting or incorrectly transposed characters is greatly reduced,” he added.
McMahon explained that kits are typically labelled on their largest face, however depending on how a clinical site’s storage area is arranged, the label by not be visible while the kit is sitting on a shelf of in a drawer.
“Our clinical site liaisons recognized the potential for harm from this practice and engaged our employees to develop an innovative and practical solution,” said Esther Sadler-Williams, Global Director Strategic Development and Innovation at Catalent. “Peel-ID will now be our standard recommendation to customers for all patient kits packaged by Catalent, reducing risks to patient safety.”
The patent pending clinical label features a permanent portion and a peel-off label containing the patient kit identifier, which can be removed by site personnel and attached elsewhere on the patient kit.
