Europe could replace paper leaflets with QR codes: “The elderly are the most affected”

A European directive could put an end to paper drug leaflets within five years. Although it is still being drafted, the idea is to replace these physical leaflets with digital ones that can be accessed via QR codes on drug boxes. The aim is to reduce paper consumption in Europe and promote access to information.

Pharmacists in Zaragoza are against a measure that directly harms older people because they do not have the same digital knowledge and skills as the rest of society. Often, it is these “ polymedicated patients ” who make the most use of the leaflets, explains the spokesperson for the Official College of Pharmacists of Zaragoza, Elena Brosed, who points out that they use them to “not make mistakes” with all the medicines they take.

“Most elderly people do not have a smartphone or have a mobile phone that they only use to call their children,” explains the spokesperson. In addition, 80% of this group has no digital knowledge or do not know how to use a mobile phone. For Brosed, it is unthinkable that “they can look at a digital leaflet through a QR code,” since it is common for them to go to pharmacies for digital issues such as when they are helped to make an appointment at the health center because they do not answer the phone or do not know how to do it online.

There is no other option, “ the prospectus has to be accessible in 100% of cases ”, says the spokesperson. She also stresses that if you want to access the digital prospectus, it will be essential that three conditions are met: having a mobile phone, having access to the internet at that time and knowing how to use this technology. In this sense, she believes that having a physical prospectus at hand is always more useful than carrying out these steps.

A PROSPECTUS FOR ALL: PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL

From the Aragonese Council for the Elderly (Coapema) , its president, Teodoro Corchero, advocates that the elderly “must be given everything easier”. “ They still do not use digital media and every day they will do so a little less , despite the efforts we put in from the association”, he explains. For this reason, he proposes that the physical leaflet be maintained and that a digital one be added as well.

It is true that leaflets can be tedious due to their “ small print ” or because they contain “too much information,” the specialist acknowledges. However, there is already a website, Medicamento accesible Plus, developed by the General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges of Spain and the ONCE Foundation, which allows leaflets to be read digitally. The purpose of this is to make it accessible to all people because they can enlarge the print or listen to it as if it were an “audiobook.” This is the perfect example that both formats, digital and physical, can “coexist.”

CITIZENS AGAINST A SOLELY DIGITAL PROSPECTUS

The vast majority of citizens reject this possible decision and agree that it makes it more difficult for older people to take medication. “It can be harmful to them because, by not having it in physical form, they can take the wrong medication or mix it with others that can cause negative effects,” explains a young woman from Zaragoza. Her husband agrees that this population is the one that makes the most use of the leaflet, which will mean that they cannot “access it properly.”

For those affected, it is completely unfeasible, “always on paper, those digital stories are no longer for us. It has to be read,” a group of older women firmly affirm. The lack of digital knowledge and the difficulty of learning are the main impediments pointed out by this group, “ it is better to have the leaflet at hand and have it tell you the things.”