Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products?
Background: Package leaflet provides information about medicinal product to the user. Printed leaflet is familiar and available, however poorly legible, especially when containing multiple languages. It is resourceful to update, has potential to go missing or get damaged, and is environmentally burd...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667276622000750 |
| _version_ | 1811264925331357696 |
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| author | Kadri Sirkas Anne Juppo Mirella Miettinen Mia Siven |
| author_facet | Kadri Sirkas Anne Juppo Mirella Miettinen Mia Siven |
| author_sort | Kadri Sirkas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Package leaflet provides information about medicinal product to the user. Printed leaflet is familiar and available, however poorly legible, especially when containing multiple languages. It is resourceful to update, has potential to go missing or get damaged, and is environmentally burdensome. The pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Baltic countries have been granted permission to market selected hospital medicinal products without printed package leaflet. The industrial pilot project is expected to promote availability of medicinal products and patient safety via increased access to medicinal information. Objective: Only few countries in Europe have derogated from Article 58 of Directive 2001/83/EC. Knowledge about the effects of removal of paper package leaflet from the medicinal product is limited, and related publications are scarce. Current interview study is identifying the obstacles during the implementation of the industrial project, investigating the potential environmental impact, and searching for further opportunities for the package leaflet in development of medicinal products. Methods: Real-time person-to-person semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders were conducted, and transcripts were analysed by content analysis to identify themes. Results: Results demonstrated general support for removing package leaflet from selected hospital products. Main difficulties of the industrial project regarded the need for clear communication and practical disadvantages of project setup. Main benefits included educational aspect of increasing awareness about product information and strengthened collaboration. Majority of participants felt doubtful about the impact of the industrial project on people's awareness of ecological issues and they admittedly lacked sufficient information on the environmental impact of pharmaceutical packaging. Conclusion: The removal of paper leaflet could be extended to more products based on the positive feedback for the industrial pilot project. However, it is paramount that the format of electronic product information would need to be enhanced first to improve readability. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:13:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18116451074c478f9a30260e654eec85 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-2766 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:13:24Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy |
| spelling | doaj.art-18116451074c478f9a30260e654eec852022-12-22T03:18:11ZengElsevierExploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy2667-27662022-09-017100176Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products?Kadri Sirkas0Anne Juppo1Mirella Miettinen2Mia Siven3Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56 (Viikinkaari 5E), FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; SIA Novartis Baltics, Pärnu mnt 141, 11314 Tallinn, Estonia; Corresponding author at: Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56 (Viikinkaari 5E), FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56 (Viikinkaari 5E), FI-00014 Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Eastern Finland, Law School, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, FinlandDivision of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56 (Viikinkaari 5E), FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, HELSUS, Yliopistonkatu 3, 00100 Helsinki, FinlandBackground: Package leaflet provides information about medicinal product to the user. Printed leaflet is familiar and available, however poorly legible, especially when containing multiple languages. It is resourceful to update, has potential to go missing or get damaged, and is environmentally burdensome. The pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Baltic countries have been granted permission to market selected hospital medicinal products without printed package leaflet. The industrial pilot project is expected to promote availability of medicinal products and patient safety via increased access to medicinal information. Objective: Only few countries in Europe have derogated from Article 58 of Directive 2001/83/EC. Knowledge about the effects of removal of paper package leaflet from the medicinal product is limited, and related publications are scarce. Current interview study is identifying the obstacles during the implementation of the industrial project, investigating the potential environmental impact, and searching for further opportunities for the package leaflet in development of medicinal products. Methods: Real-time person-to-person semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders were conducted, and transcripts were analysed by content analysis to identify themes. Results: Results demonstrated general support for removing package leaflet from selected hospital products. Main difficulties of the industrial project regarded the need for clear communication and practical disadvantages of project setup. Main benefits included educational aspect of increasing awareness about product information and strengthened collaboration. Majority of participants felt doubtful about the impact of the industrial project on people's awareness of ecological issues and they admittedly lacked sufficient information on the environmental impact of pharmaceutical packaging. Conclusion: The removal of paper leaflet could be extended to more products based on the positive feedback for the industrial pilot project. However, it is paramount that the format of electronic product information would need to be enhanced first to improve readability.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667276622000750Paperless package leafletPatient information leafletMedicine informationEnvironmental sustainability |
| spellingShingle | Kadri Sirkas Anne Juppo Mirella Miettinen Mia Siven Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy Paperless package leaflet Patient information leaflet Medicine information Environmental sustainability |
| title | Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? |
| title_full | Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? |
| title_fullStr | Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? |
| title_short | Could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products? |
| title_sort | could paper package leaflet be left out from hospital products |
| topic | Paperless package leaflet Patient information leaflet Medicine information Environmental sustainability |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667276622000750 |
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