Questionnaire survey concerning the recognition of GS1 DataBars by hospital pharmacists

In Japan, labeling of packages of prescription drugs was changed from JAN (Japanese Article Number) codes to GS1 DataBars, and the use of GS1 DataBars in medical services is expected to aid in the prevention of medical accidents, such as drug mix-ups, and improve traceability. In Japan, prescription drugs are dispensed primarily using PTP (Press Through Package) and SP (Strip Package) sheets, and tablets and capsules are seldom given to patients in bottles as in the United States and EU countries. We carried out a questionnaire survey of hospital pharmacists who handle drugs as their job to investigate the viewpoints from which they evaluate the design of PTP sheets of drugs. When the position of the bar code was evaluated from the viewpoint of “readability”, there was little difference between the top and bottom of the PTP sheet, but there was a difference between the top (over the tablets) and the margin of the PTP sheet. To the question “Which is more functional, endless printing or pitch printing?”, the pitch method was selected twice as frequently. “Ergonomics of holding the drug with the left hand and holding the scanner with the right hand” were suggested to be important for rapid reading of GS1 DataBars with minimum movements during the complex dispensing operation.