Redesign of HALMED portal

12.11.2015

New visual identity, clearer and more intuitive user interface, approach adjusted to various interest groups, improved functionalities and better organisation of an even greater quantity of information

Today the redesigned web portal of Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of Croatia (HALMED) was launched. By redesigning its portal, HALMED made a great quantity of useful information from its area of activity available in an even more accessible way, taking into account needs and demands of patients, health care professionals, industry representatives and other interest groups. Within the portal redesign, a new visual identity of HALMED had been established, a clearer and more intuitive user interface had been developed, an approach adjusted to various interest groups of HALMED had been enabled and portal's functionalities as well as organisation of a great quantity of information from HALMED's area of activity had been improved. Furthermore, in addition to the content already available, the portal had been enriched with new useful content, particularly from the area of safety monitoring of medicinal products.

After full 12 years of HALMED's active care for protection and promotion of public health in the Republic of Croatia, the objective of portal redesign has been to make HALMED even closer and more transparent to patients and all other interest groups.

"Even though HALMED has been ranked as one of the best medicinal product agencies in the European Union, we continuously try to be even better and to improve safety and awareness of our patients, as well as to enable them to be as actively involved in safety monitoring of medicinal products and medical devices as possible", emphasized the Head of HALMED, Viola Macolić Šarinić, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, on the occasion of the launch of the portal.

With the redesign of the portal, existing functionalities and content have been emproved and new have been introduced:

Within the new design, the most important content and tools have been placed on the homepage.
Moreover, the redesign enabled visitors to reach the greatest possible quantity of information from the homepage, with only one click.
The access to content is adjusted to three key interest groups: patients and public, health care professionals and industry representatives.
More than 4,800 medicinal products with marketing authorisation in the Republic of Croatia are available in HALMED's Medicinal Products Database. For all of them, it is possible to download a patient information leaflet (PIL) as well as a summary of product characteristics (SPC), which contain information important for their application.
Using the portal, visitors can check information on the availability of medicinal products in the market in the Republic of Croatia.
Patients and health care professionals, as well as all other visitors, can report any suspected adverse reaction to a medicinal product directly to HALMED using easily accessible forms or a simple online application.
Using the portal, any suspected quality defect of a medicinal product or medical device, as well as a suspicion of a falsified product, can easily be reported.
A number of various publications regularly published by HALMED, such as annual reports on the reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions as well as annual and multiannual reports on the utilization of medicinal products, are available on the portal.
By applying for a newsletter or RSS channels visitors can regularly receive all news from areas of medicinal products and medical devices which are published on the portal on a daily basis.

Direct and adjusted access to information

HALMED portal can be accessed in three different ways, adjusted to each of HALMED's three main interest groups: patients and public, health care professionals and industry representatives. Thanks to the adjusted approach, content which is particularly relevant for every interest group is additionally emphasized and more quickly available.

In the same manner, the overall approach to the content of the portal enables a more direct access to most frequently sought content from HALMED's area of activity. This way, visitors can access the databases of medicinal products, medical devices as well as manufacturing and distribution licences with one click, just as they can access information on availability of medicinal products in the market, forms for reporting suspected adverse reactions, adverse incidents and quality defects, as well as a large number of informative texts on medicinal products and medical devices.

Patients in focus

Thanks to the simplified access to an even greater quantity of information from areas of medicinal products and medical devices, patients can get involved even more actively in safety monitoring of medicinal products and medical devices. For every medicinal product with marketing authorisation in the Republic of Croatia, patients can find a patient information leaflet (PIL) in the Medicinal Products Database, containing all information necessary for its correct and safe application, as well as check information on its availability in the Croatian market. In an equally easy way, patients can access instructions for reporting suspected adverse reactions, as well as an online application for reporting suspected adverse reactions to medicinal products. Moreover, using HALMED's portal patients can access the European and global database of suspected adverse reactions, as well as get informed about the news concerning safety of medicinal products and medical devices.

HALMED's portal redesign had been conducted with the purpose of informing the professional and wider public as transparently, comprehensively and promptly as possible, in line with the communication strategy of HALMED, which includes continuous development of communication channels and raising the quality of information.

In order to continue to improving functionalities of the portal and availability of information from areas of medicinal products and medical devices in cooperation with visitors of our portal, we invite all of them to send us their comments and suggestions, as well as questions and dilemmas, to the e-mail address portal@halmed.hr.