QUALITY USE OF MEDICINES

NATIONAL PRESCRIBING SERVICE

NPS: Better choices, Better health, is an independent organisation that enables Australians to be medicinewise. Funded by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing, NPS provides accurate, evidence-based information to help health professionals and consumers make the best decisions about medicines and medical tests.

NPS works closely with professional organisations and advisory experts to ensure its programs and content reflect current best practice guidelines.

The Eyre Peninsula Division of General Practice provides NPS Facilitator visiting services. Academic detailing* and/or small group case based discussions* within General Practice Networks cover health conditions with known medicine use issues and evidence-based best practice prescribing.

Contact Meredith Carlier on 08 8682 5599 for more details;

www.nps.org.au/health_professionals/activities/nps_facilitator_visits

Free activities and resources for health professionals include:

  • Clinical audits* These quality improvement activities to help prescribers review their current prescribing practice for patients with certain conditions compared to best practice guidelines.
  • Case studies. Written clinical scenarios accompanied by a set of questions designed to help you refine your clinical decision-making skills. Available in print or electronic format

* Eligible for CPD/ CPE points

These can be accessed at www.nps.org.au/health_professionals/activities

Print publications that are mailed free of charge to all Australian GPs and pharmacists and some specialists include:

  • NPS News This newsletter is distributed bimonthly with Australian Prescriber and covers in depth, independent information about therapeutic topics.
  • Australian Prescriber functions with an independent editorial committee and covers the latest in medicine, diagnostics, therapeutic topics and Medication Safety Updates.
  • Prescribing Practice Review This publication provides key messages for quality prescribing on selected therapeutic topics and evidence-based prescribing information. With this publication, GPs often receive individualised prescribing data to use for personal reflection on their prescribing practice.
  • NPS RADAR Newsletter sent three to four times a year with online updates in between. NPS RADAR offers independent, evidence-based assessments of new drugs, new PBS listings and the latest research.
  • Fact sheets Short, topical factsheets are published to clarify medicines issues as they arise.

To access these go to www.nps.org.au/health_professionals/publications

In addition there is webpage Guide to medicine information resources. This webpage collates all the drug information services and resources for health professionals in each state.

Consumers


NPS also works with community groups and organisations to reach targeted audiences. Its partners include the Council on the Ageing (COTA), which runs peer education workshops for seniors, and the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council (FECCA) which reaches people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

NPS runs mass audience campaigns and develops media and content partnerships to reach all Australians.

Resources for consumers include:

  • Medicines Line 1300 MEDICINE – a free telephone information service run by NPS pharmacists for consumers with medicine-related questions.
  • Adverse Medicines Events line 1300 134 237 – a free reporting line for people who experience an adverse medicine event.
  • Fact sheets about certain medicines and health conditions
  • MedicinesTalk – a quarterly publication with useful tips on ways to manage medicines and topical issues.
  • Medicine Update – an independent assessment of current information and research about newly listed PBS medicines written for consumers.
  • Medimate – a brochure covering what people need to know about their medicines
  • Be Medicinewise flyer – outlines how people can be medicinewise by learning about, managing and discussing their medicines use.
  • Medicines Lists – a template where people can record all the medicines they are taking and the vital information about each one including active ingredient, dose and frequency.
  • Medicine Name Finder – an online tool to identify the active ingredient in a prescription medicine and any brand names it is known as

All NPS consumer resources are available at no cost from www.nps.org.au and can be ordered in mass for practices, pharmacies, clinics, community groups and organisations. NPS also regularly issues media releases that can be used for other publications and audio and audio-visual files. Some resources are also available in other languages.
 
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