ScripTalk survey: Talking labels boost med safety for visually impaired patients

Prescription labels can improve medication safety, according to a study conducted by Issues &  Answers Network for En-Vision America, a company that provides ScripTalk Talking Prescription System to pharmacies. 

The survey shows that those who experienced medication errors prior to using the talking prescription system, ScripTalk, fell largely into two categories— they either took the wrong medication or had difficulty determining the right medication to take.

Prior to using the ScripTalk Talking Prescription System, 27.3 % said they mixed their medications up; 25.2% reported they took the wrong medication or dosage; and 23.1% said it was difficult to determine the right medication at all.

After using ScripTalk, no one experienced a medication error related to mixing up medications or taking the wrong medication/dosage.

“The study result speaks volumes about what we have known for a long time: Safety for individuals who are blind or deaf-blind is greatly increased simply by using accessible medication labels,” said David Raistrick, founder and president of En-Vision America, the company that provides the free service.

To use the system, the pharmacist applies a small RFID tag onto the medication which works with text-to-speech technology to speak the label information. In addition to identifying medication by name and dosage, the talking label also shares instructions, warnings, pharmacy information, doctor name, prescription number and date. The electronic label can either be read out loud with a ScripTalk Mobile App or a ScripTalk Station Reader.

The ScripTalk Study results can be found here.