Advancing Medication Safety: Best Practices for Medication Barcoding in Clinical Trials
While barcode technology is widely used in commercial pharmaceutical settings, IDS environments introduce unique challenges that make adoption less straightforward.
As clinical trial complexity continues to grow, many teams are asking an important question:
How can barcoding best practices be applied in clinical trial workflows in a way that strengthens medication safety?
McCreadie Group explored this topic in a recent Labroots-sponsored webinar, Advancing Medication Safety: Best Practices and Barcoding Solutions for Investigational Products, featuring key insights from Rachael Aletti, PharmD.
Why Medication Barcoding in Clinical Research Requires a Different Approach
Investigational products are often not mandated to adhere to standardized labeling or barcoding, which results in frequent inconsistencies in naming conventions, kit or lot identifiers, multi-protocol overlaps, and labels that may omit or obscure critical information.
These challenges can increase reliance on manual double-checks and introduce variability among operational workflows, contributing to documentation gaps that can affect regulatory and protocol compliance.
As covered in the session, teams must prioritize implementation of best practices for medication barcoding and take steps to proactively address the specific challenges of implementing these standards for investigational products within clinical research settings.
What IDS Teams Need to Know About Implementation
Implementing barcoding in an IDS environment is as much a workflow decision as it is a technology one. The session addresses what actions are necessary to design barcoding as a safety initiative, not just added process, including:
- Identifying the right scan points across the investigational drug accountability workflow
- Defining what data must be captured and why it matters
- Establishing barcode exception review processes to prevent workarounds over time
Watch the Full Webinar Now
If your team is asking any of the following questions, our webinar is worth the watch:
• What makes IP barcoding operationally different from commercial pharmacy barcoding?
• Where in the investigational drug accountability workflow does barcoding provide the most meaningful safety value?
• How do electronic drug accountability systems and EHR modules work together to support barcode validation?
• What does industry-wide standardization look like, and why does it matter for your site?
Whether you are evaluating barcoding for the first time or working through implementation, this session provides the expert insights you need to move forward with confidence.