The EU Falsified Medicines Directive - A Concept for Drug Decommissioning in Hospitals

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2019:259:91-94.

Abstract

The EU falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU will be applied in Switzerland as well. It mandates unique identifiers on medication packages and a process to ensure that these identifiers are decommissioned when the medication package is handed to the patient. While this is not a major problem for Swiss community pharmacies, it is yet unclear how decommissioning shall be managed within hospitals. This paper analyses the drug supply chain in 5 Swiss hospitals and drafts a system architecture to support a decommissioning process upon arrival of new drug deliveries at the hospital pharmacy.

Keywords: IT support; Medication process; commissioning; hospital pharmacy.

MeSH terms

  • Counterfeit Drugs*
  • Drug Packaging
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Pharmacies*
  • Switzerland

Substances

  • Counterfeit Drugs