DailyMed® Product Identification System

NLM® introduced a new product identification system on the DailyMed Web page (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Link to the Product Identification System on DailyMed.

This system is intended to help users identify solid dose form products (tablets and capsules) by their description and assist them in identifying medications by pictures. All solid dose form medications are intended to have a unique appearance, whether because of color, size, shape, scoring, or imprint data. By searching on any one or more of these attributes (see Figure 2), a searcher can help narrow the field of possible identities of an unknown medication.

Figure 2: Product Identification System search results.

In addition to helping patients and families identify their medications, this system may prove of use to professionals and to poison control centers.

By Stuart Nelson
MeSH® Section

Nelson S. DailyMed® Product Identification System. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 May-Jun;(368):e4.