Labels help organizations facilitate business functions. From differentiating a product, tracking inventory, verifying patient information, guiding medication dispensing and enhancing communications, for almost any organization, labels advance essential workflows. Although there are stock labels that work effectively for many business functions, others require a label with some level of customization. So when defining the label you need for your operation, how do you know if you need a stock label or a custom label?

Click a button, wait a few hours and it shows up. It’s simple and easy. If you’re ordering a package online that’s what you’re conditioned to expect. But for those experienced in supply chain management, getting the right products to the right customer at the right time isn’t quite so straightforward. Although effective logistics tend to make this process appear effortless, it’s not, especially when you layer in products that require special handling like vaccines. A vaccine supply chain is an intertwined system of manufacturing, transportation, equipment, personnel, locations, and processes creating challenges that proper labeling and handling can solve. Use these vaccine labeling and handling best practices to ensure that vaccines retain their efficacy and are available when and where caregivers and patients need them.

Depending upon the time of year, a package waiting for shipment on a warehouse dock, or in a trailer en route to its end destination, can reach temperatures of 150 degrees in the summer to 20 to 30 below zero in the winter. Although some products can withstand these types of temperature extremes, others can’t. For example, maintaining specific temperatures for storing and shipping food, medications, chemicals and more are a necessity. Temperature indicating labels is one way to ensure those requirements are met. Use this guide to temperature indicating labels to monitor your critical products and ensure temperature guidelines are met.

What’s your biggest work frustration? According to a Harris Poll, managing workloads is among the top challenges employees face each year. And given the data, it’s not surprising. The average office employee spends 30 hours a month, more than six weeks each year, looking for things. And it’s nearly as bad for executives. According to Forbes ASAP, the typical executive today wastes 3.75 hours a week, or nearly a month annually, searching for lost information. Poor organization creates a huge potential loss of time and makes managing workloads that much more frustrating. From self-help books and apps on your smartphone to the simplicity of a label, there are a variety of steps you can take to minimize these issues. We’re accustomed to downloading an app, reading a book or listening to one online, but the best option may be employing labels. Here’s how to use labels for office organization.

Diagnosing and treating a patient can be straightforward, incredibly challenging and everything in between. Although they don’t always provide the answer, billions of times each year, healthcare providers order tests to help discover additional information to guide their decision-making. But with 322,448 labs analyzing over 7 billion clinical lab tests performed annually in the United States1, the only way to ensure the right information is uncovered, analyzed and acted upon is to follow specific specimen labeling guidelines and requirements. As with nearly all provider workflows, the first step in the process centers around the patient.

From The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals and the ISPM Medication Best Practices to the protocols established at individual hospitals, healthcare organizations place a high priority on medication safety. Yet even with the diligence of patient care teams, the Agency For Healthcare Research And Quality reports that nearly 5% of hospitalized patients experience an adverse drug event (ADE), making them one of the most common types of inpatient errors. The complexities of prescribing, labeling, dispensing, administering and monitoring a drug make ADEs difficult to prevent entirely. Although the importance of labeling may not receive the same scrutiny as the other steps, there are consequences of using improper medical labels. 

How tough is the competition for consumer products? The average grocery store carries more than 39,000 products and if you sell online, that number increases exponentially. Although e-commerce gives consumers more shopping options than ever before, the digital environment is often one where smaller brands can thrive. Exposing customers to a broader range of options increases the variety of an existing product, creates opportunities to attract a wider and more diversified audience and provides current customers with additional options. Plus, because an extension to a current product line rarely requires new equipment to produce, it can increase economies of scale and lower unit costs. On the other hand, line extensions don’t come without their challenges. For example, managing a line extension can increase packaging complexity, taxing marketing and packaging teams. But, implementing steps such as multi-version labeling can simplify these challenges. Here are 4 benefits of using multi-version labeling that simplify the process.

Despite significant national attention, medical errors continue to affect the U.S. healthcare system. Medication-related errors consistently rank at the top of all medical errors, which account for thousands of preventable deaths annually in the United States. But despite the ongoing challenges that make these issues difficult to solve, improvement only occurs through ongoing error identification and process improvements. One organization that tackles these challenges is The Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). Recently they published their 2022 - 2023 ISMP medication best practice list.

Over the last 200 years, there are a few medical breakthroughs that have had an enormous impact on the life expectancy of people worldwide. From Joseph Lister who introduced the importance of hand washing and using antiseptics during surgery to Alexander Fleming who created penicillin, these two doctors' discoveries saved millions of lives. But there’s another doctor that deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of medical breakthroughs. That is Edward Jenner the “Father of Immunology.” He created the first vaccine against smallpox and his contributions led to other inoculations that protect us against life-threatening illnesses. But for providers, the medicine itself is only part of the process. Administering vaccines safely demands steps that support patient safety initiatives. Use this ultimate guide to vaccine labeling to ensure you meet those standards.

More than 50 million people in the U.S. experience allergies each year. Although seasonal varieties make up nearly half of that total, other sensitivities, including reactions to medication, latex, food and more, can cause low blood pressure, breathing trouble, asthma attacks, and even death if not treated promptly. Preventing the risks that allergies create is challenging, especially in healthcare settings. Medical allergy alert labels are one tool care providers use to mitigate this risk.