GTIN
Colloquially, many know GTIN as a barcode, but technically, GTIN is the number found beneath the barcode symbol itself, and can therefore also be used for other technologies such as 2D barcodes and RFID tags.
Colloquially, many know GTIN as a barcode, but technically, GTIN is the number found beneath the barcode symbol itself, and can therefore also be used for other technologies such as 2D barcodes and RFID tags.
Pen and paper have been replaced by an app that scans medication barcodes in the Central Denmark Region, allowing for easy and efficient sharing with other departments. This has led to impressive results, including significant savings and a reduction in medication waste.
Medication that expires and goes to waste is clearly not ideal for sustainability or the budget. GS1 standards helped the Central Denmark Region solve this.
The absence of a standardized tracking system in the region's hospitals made it difficult for pharmacy staff to get a clear overview of medication inventory and identify packages nearing their expiration date.
The manual nature of inventory management further compounded the challenge, leading to time-consuming processes prone to error. The hospitals lacked a streamlined method for redistributing medication, meaning some areas failed to use medication before it expired, while others faced shortages.
To address these challenges, a specialized and user-friendly app was developed internally within the Central Denmark Region. The app, named HRM Udløb, leverages GS1 standards and smartphone camera functionality to scan barcodes.
Pharmacy staff can simply scan each individual package to create a virtual catalog of medication, providing real-time visibility into expiration dates. They can also release medication nearing its expiration date so that other hospital departments can use it.
What started as a pilot at Aarhus University Hospital in January 2022 has grown; a year later, the app serves a total of 332 medication rooms, and the number of scanned packages has already exceeded 50,000.
Central Denmark Region's in-house developed app, which uses GS1 standards, won two digitalization awards in the autumn of 2022: the Initiative Award and the Innovation Day Audience Award. As a result, the remaining regions in Denmark have expressed interest in the app.
According to Jesper Kervin Franke, Senior Healthcare Specialist at GS1, the process of expanding its use throughout Denmark will be relatively straightforward, as all regions use the same procurement system:
"International standards provide excellent conditions for a project like Central Denmark Region's to be transferred to other regions. Especially here, since the medication procurement system, Apovision, which the region's app is connected to, is used in all regions."
You can read more about this exciting project and the development of the app in GS1 Healthcare Reference Book 2023-2024.
If you would like to know how to get started with reducing medication waste at your workplace, please do not hesitate to contact our Healthcare team.
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GTIN (also known as EAN) stands for “Global Trade Item Number” and is the number sequence shown beneath a barcode symbol.
GTIN (EAN) is a global standard used to uniquely identify digital and physical products, allowing the barcode to be scanned anywhere in the world throughout the supply chain.
A GLN (also known as EAN) allows you to uniquely identify physical, functional, legal, or digital entities. This can include the sender, receiver, buyer, seller, supplier, manufacturer, delivery location, billing location, store, or internal departments.
