Pharma packaging doesn’t apply to just storage of medical substances like pills and syrups. They are also made to provide detailed info on the product such as expiry or best before dates. Hence, playing a role in patient information, since medical drugs aren’t supposed to be handled or taken incorrectly. However, the difference in packaging of pills in different states is something to talk upon. On one side, there are bottled tablets and capsules where sometimes the pills pop out of hand and get contaminated. On the other hand, there are blister packs that keep every pill separate and untouched.
Pharmaceutical consumers in the U.S. are buying medicines packed in bottles. Blisters too are available for public use but are employed less frequently than bottle packaging. While bottles are dominant in the U.S. World War II has shown the benefits of blisters to Europeans, in the most rugged, chaotic and pressurizing situations. Standard of pharma packaging for Europe, has since changed and adapted to blister packaging. Between blisters and bottles, blisters today provide three times the benefits to manufacturers, pharma retailers, and the patients. Which is why the blister packaging market in the EU is predicted to rise by 6.45% annually in the years 2021-2026. Let’s look into the most important benefits from the features of blisters-
Child Safety
The most necessary feature of pharmaceutical packaging is child safety. Even though there are bottles in the US that come with child resistant caps, blisters are shown to be 60% more efficient at protecting children from harmful medicines. The reason being the initial design of cap and bottle packaging. Despite the child resistance feature, if the cap is left even a bit unscrewed, the feature is a failure. The real issue comes when pills are being packed in glass bottles. Not only do the pills become accessible through breaking the bottle, in the meantime they also pose a risk of serious injury to a stubborn child.
It’s the year 2022 and children are pretty much born smart and they can open the child resistant bottle easily once they notice you do it. Most health organizations confirm that 95% of poisoning cases in children are due to deliberate self-poisoning when supervision is absent. While only five percent of cases show the mistake of a caregiver or suicidal tendencies. So ultimately, blisters can be better at preventing accidental ingestion by children. For pharmaceuticals like antibiotics, painkillers or anti-depressants, blisters can provide an F-1 safety level which will prevent children from breaking them.
Prescription Compliance
The instant benefit of blister packaging goes directly to patients. For patients with serious illnesses who take a combination of pills and medication, it is easy to forget or miss dosages or maybe even take more if it’s a blood pressure pill in a bottle, for example. Studies have shown in cases where there has to be regularity of dosage blister packs can help a lot at keeping track. With elder patients who are taking medication, forgetfulness can be managed by utilizing calenderized blister packs. It can keep track for every day of the week and even provide marking for when the medicine is to be skipped, preventing overdosing. Here’s how blister packaging can add to compliance-
– Improved Adherence
Blister packs can improve adherence to prescription easily, especially for patients who are buying a number of medications at once. The difference of make and shape of the pack can help customers differentiate paracetamol from painkillers, for example. If a household has multiple patients of different ailments, blister packs come in handy as the patient can remember their medicine from that of their kin. Blister packaging has enough space to provide dosing information near each tablet. Adding dosing instruction makes it safer for children and elders and gives a reminder to any caretaker appointed. Vitamin supplement and contraceptive pills are excellent examples of how compliance works in blisters. It projects days and hours on which to take the pills preventing overdose and harm to the internal organs.
– Accurate Dispensing
Pills that are pre packed in blister packs are helpful to the dispensary staff or pharmacist. It eliminates the need to count the pills every time someone wants them. This in turn removes the error that might come with distractions. The blisters are quick to dispense that way since they don’t need to be counted, filled in bottles or pouches, and repacked again. It is convenient for the staff to quickly find the exact drug the consumer is looking for. Most prescription only drugs are also put in boxes to display more info and strength of the pill, so they can confirm with their clinic. Bottle packaging puts the responsibility of dosage and dispensing info on the pharmacy staff and human error has always been the way of medical accidents. If a staff, by mistake, puts a different pill in the bottle than the prescription and puts the right label, who does the patient rely on. Blister packs give patients the exact info direct from the manufacturer and prevent any mishandling of pills and accidental poisoning.
– Refill Reminders
Blisters have been proven to keep track of medicine dosage and supply. Hence in the same way that it reminds the patient to take the pill, it also is better at telling the patient when to take another trip to the pharmacists. Not having pills when it’s an emergency can be dangerous in some cases. That’s the reason all asthma pumps come with a spray counter. Same way the counted and separated packaging in blisters tells the patients when the supply is about to run empty. Whereas in bottles, the patients tend to forget their refill until the last one pill or none are left. Through blister cards, patients can time their visit to the pharmacy and get a refill.
Packaging of pharmaceuticals requires efficiency and protection of product quality. Where the bottle packages expose the pills to outer elements every time they’re used, blisters keep every pill sealed till the next dose. If you’re looking for error free solutions for your pill packaging needs, call for blister lines at Accupack.
