The following information is forwarded to you by the Great Lakes ADA Center (
www.adagreatlakes.org)
for your information:
National Council on Disability Issues Brochure on Prescription Drug Labeling
NCD brochure "Best Practices for Accessible Prescription Drug Labeling" The
National Council on Disability (NCD) has issued a
brochure
on best practices for making prescription drug container labels accessible to
people with vision impairments or who are elderly. The new brochure, which
is based on recommendations from a U.S. Access Board stakeholder panel,
outlines voluntary methods that pharmacists can use to provide access to drug
label
information for their customers. These include braille and large print, as well
as newer technologies such as digital voice or text-to-speech recorders,
radio frequency identification tags, and smart devices and computers. The
brochure also provides best practices to follow with these formats, such as
maintaining
patient privacy in preparing labels and selecting containers that best support
the type of accessible label provided. This guidance is advisory only and
is not mandatory.
Implementing these practices will provide those unable to read print or small
type access to the important information contained on labels for prescription
medications, including dosage and other instructions, side effects, and
expiration dates. NCD, which advises the President, Congress, and federal
agencies
on policies, programs, and practices affecting people with disabilities, is
making this information available to pharmacies and industry associations for
dissemination to affiliates and members. Members of the public are also welcome
to download the brochure and share it with their local pharmacy.
The guidance is based on recommendations developed by a stakeholder working
group organized by the Access Board. The Working Group on Accessible
Prescription
Drug Container Labels, which included representatives from advocacy
organizations and industry, assessed various methods for making drug labels
accessible
and issued its findings in a
report
to the Board in July 2013. Since release of the report, various national
pharmacy chains have adopted methods for providing drug label information in
accessible
formats. This work was authorized by the "Food and Drug Administration Safety
and Innovation Act of 2012" which directed the Board to develop the best
practice recommendations through a working group and tasked NCD with
undertaking an awareness campaign to inform pharmacies and the public of this
voluntary
guidance. The law also calls upon the Comptroller General to conduct a review
to assess the extent to which pharmacies are implementing the best practices
and to determine whether barriers to prescription drug labels remain.
Further information is available on
NCD's website
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