Package Insert - Other Uses and Initiatives

Other Uses and Initiatives

In addition to the obvious use of inclusion with medications, package inserts have been used or provided in other forms. In the United States, the package inserts for thousands of prescription medicines are compiled into a reference book called the Physicians' Desk Reference, better known as the PDR. South Africa has taken the initiative of making all package inserts available electronically via the internet, listed by trade name, generic name, and classification, and Canada is working on a similar capability. The UK-based electronic Medicines Compendium provides freely-available online access to both Patient Information Leaflets (intended for consumers) and Summary of Product Characteristics (aimed at healthcare professionals) for products available in the UK.

Patient information is, understandably, usually generated initially in the native language of the country where the product is being developed. This leads to inconsistency in format, terminology, tone, and content. PILLS (Patient Information Language Localisation System) is a one-year effort by the European Commission to produce a prototype tool which will support the creation of various kinds of medical documentation simultaneously in multiple languages, by storing the information in a database and allowing a variety of forms and languages of output.