The year has gotten off to a fast start and 2022 is shaping up to be full of positive change for GS1 Canada and our subscribers in the healthcare and pharmacy sectors. In this issue, we share how standards are contributing to patient safety, benefitting all Canadians, and how vaccine traceability is leading to fewer wasted doses overseas. As always, we encourage you to explore opportunities to get involved and be a standards champion with updates on our work groups and committees. We’re excited to tell you about the progress GS1 Canada has been making through our subscriber organizations and continued collaboration with members of our healthcare and pharmacy community.
In January, Phase II of Project Enhanced Data Integrity for Patient Safety was launched. This important project is advancing the goal of achieving pharmaceutical product data accuracy in Canada. Thanks to participation across the pharmacy community during Phase I, important pharmaceutical product data was gathered by GS1 Canada’s Content Capture team on-site at McKesson Canada. Phase II is focused on certifying this data, extending the commitment to patient safety and supply chain visibility through data excellence. This is the next step in a project critical to providing the highest standard of quality to support patient safety. Through this initiative, the pharmaceutical sector is well on its way to achieving the goal of zero tolerance for errors in patient care.
If you are a pharmaceutical vendor or a pharmacy stakeholder who wishes to access certified content, contact healthcare@gs1ca.org.
When it comes to demonstrating the value of standards in healthcare, GS1 Ireland is leading by example. Over the past year, this member organization has collaborated with the Republic of Ireland’s Health Service Executive and the National Immunisation Office to incorporate global standards for the safe and efficient delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. TrackVax is a solution that enables the fast and effective process of receiving, administering, tracking and reporting vaccinations across more than 40 Centralised Vaccination Clinics. The ability to trace a vaccine from manufacturer to supplier to vaccination point through unique identification represents standardization that benefits the entire supply chain. To read more about how TrackVax is helping combat wasted vaccines through traceability, click here.
GS1 Canada is always looking to add the voice of our community to our work groups and committees. The latest membership expansion offers roles for manufacturers, distributors and solution providers who are ready for or working toward the adoption of global standards as a foundation for a clinically integrated supply chain. Working as part of our Healthcare Provider Deployment Committee, members will focus on the adoption of global standards to enable trading partner transactions and workflows, such as electronic order management and inventory management. Adoption of GS1 Global Standards enables seamless and transparent non-clinical and clinical workflows along the healthcare value chain to the point of care and the Electronic Medical Record. Join the growing number of GS1 Canada subscribers working toward global standards adoption. Find out more by contacting healthcare@gs1ca.org.
The next meeting of this committee will take place in June 2022.
The Pharmacy Deployment Committee is welcoming new members to champion standards to improve patient safety and advance efficiencies in the pharmacy sector. Committee objectives for 2022 cover a wide range of non-competitive business processes, such as:
For more information or to join the Pharmacy Deployment Committee, please contact info@gs1ca.org.
The first meeting of the year will be held on March 22, 2022.
The pandemic effected a need to manage Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Industrial Cleaning Supplies (ICS) within the healthcare and pharmacy sectors and beyond. The first meeting of the work group was held on February 1, 2022. Members representing the grocery and foodservice industries and healthcare and pharmacy sectors shared their lived experiences dealing with unprecedented demand and the urgent need for PPE and ICS products such as gloves, masks, gowns, sanitizers and cleaning supplies.
Moving forward, the PPE and ICS Work Group will identify the processes, systems and standards needed to ensure visibility and traceability capabilities across the supply chain for the PPE and ICS categories. Through the implementation of global standards and tools, such as data capture and sharing, the work group aims to enable seamless PPE and ICS product information and data sharing capabilities for businesses and governments.
The next meeting of the PPE and ICS Work Group is on March 17, 2022. To find out more or to join the work group, contact info@gs1ca.org.
