Single Unit Barcoding: Greater Safety Across the Medication Circuit
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) has recently published an official position on Single Unit Barcoding, reinforcing the importance of traceability and validation at every stage of the medication circuit — from arrival at the hospital pharmacy through to administration to the patient.
This position highlights a challenge that remains central to the patient safety agenda: ensuring that every individual medication unit, even when split, repackaged or prepared separately, retains the identification and traceability required for safe administration at every stage of the process.
The concept of Closed Loop Medication Management (CLMM) has gained increasing prominence in patient safety strategies across Europe, precisely because it is based on a simple but demanding principle: every stage of the medication circuit — preparation, dispensing, transport and administration — should be electronically validated, without interruptions or blind spots.
The adoption of international standards such as GS1 is an essential step in this process, enabling interoperable validation regardless of supplier, software platform or healthcare institution.
At BIQ Health Solutions, this vision is reflected in PharmaTRAC®, a solution that digitally supports medication unitisation, coding, validation and safe administration at the patient’s bedside.
By scanning codes at each stage of the process — from the pharmacy to the patient — PharmaTRAC® directly supports the principles of the “5 Rights”: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route and right time.
As João Mendes, CIO of BIQ Health Solutions, explains:
“The position recently published by the EAHP further reinforces the importance of investing in interoperable digital infrastructures, adopting standards such as GS1 and implementing solutions that enable healthcare organisations to move towards true Closed Loop Medication Management. At BIQ Health Solutions, we believe this is the way forward for safer, more efficient hospitals that are better prepared to address the current and future challenges of healthcare delivery. We congratulate the EAHP for placing this topic on the European patient safety agenda. We remain committed to supporting hospitals throughout this transformation through innovative solutions such as PharmaTRAC®.”
With PharmaTRAC®, BIQ Health Solutions continues to support hospitals and healthcare organisations in building safer and more efficient medication circuits aligned with international best practices, helping to raise patient safety standards across Europe.
Discover PharmaTRAC® and learn how to strengthen medication safety in your hospital.