Community Update 22 Community Update 22

Welcome to the latest issue of Community Update, provided by the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS). Community Update helps keep you informed about issues around medicines use as they relate to individuals and the community.

National Prescribing Service Ltd (NPS) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation for quality use of medicines. We provide accurate, balanced, evidence-based information and services to help people choose if, when and how to use medicines to improve their health and wellbeing. We are member-based and work in partnership with consumers, health professionals, government and the pharmaceutical industry.

NPS is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

In this issue

• Seasons' greetings from NPS
• New resource to help people manage pain
• Online videos about managing type 2 diabetes
• Urinary incontinence
• Get to know your medicines campaign wins National Multicultural Marketing Award

Seasons’ greetings from NPS

Thank you for working with us through the year to help Australians make healthier decisions about medicines. We look forward to our continued collaboration in 2010.

Best wishes,

Lynn Weekes and the NPS team.

New resource to help people manage pain

More than 3.85 million Australians experience pain caused by arthritis and many are not achieving adequate pain relief with their current medicine regimen. Research conducted by Arthritis NSW earlier this year revealed many people are overusing general analgesics to relieve breakthrough pain, which can result in further health complications.

To help people work with their doctors to determine the best pain management treatments for them, Arthritis NSW and National Prescribing Service (NPS) have developed a pain management diary in which people can record detailed information about the type and nature of pain they are feeling.

The 16 page booklet, Helping you manage your pain, includes space to record your mood, sleep and physical activity as well as what you have done to alleviate the pain and whether it worked. These things all need to be considered in discussion with a health professional when developing an effective pain management plan.

A brochure about arthritis pain has also been developed in traditional Chinese. It has been designed to help people record and discuss their arthritic pain with their healthcare professionals and develop the most appropriate pain management plan.

Download your copy of these resources here or order a hardcopy from Arthritis NSW by email or by calling the Arthritis Foundation in your State or Territory on 1800 011 041.

The NPS Medicines List is another handy tool to help manage medicines and can be used in conjunction with the pain management resources to keep track of important information about your medicines.

Online videos about managing type 2 diabetes

Diabetes Tasmania, in partnership with NPS, has produced a series of online videos that address medicines use issues for people with type 2 diabetes. The segments cover the types of medicines used to manage type 2 diabetes, the best ways to manage your medicines, and what you should discuss with your healthcare providers. A DVD has also been created which combines the 11 segments. A limited number of hardcopies of the DVD are available for health professionals and community organisations through Diabetes Tasmania. Translated copies in Cantonese, Mandarin and German will be available next year.

You can view the online videos here.

Urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence (the involuntary leakage of urine) is common, but many people don’t tell their health professional because they may be embarrassed or aren’t sure about treatment options.

This condition can affect both men and women and may be caused by a number of things including pregnancy, obesity and chronic health conditions. Environmental factors, reduced mobility and cognitive impairment may also hinder getting to or using the toilet.

Treatments

Treatment options may include physical and behavioural therapies such as pelvic floor exercises, bladder training and prompted voiding, or medicine or surgery. In addition to treatment there are some things you can do to make living with urinary incontinence more comfortable:

• Keep a list of your medicines and show the list to your GP as some medicines can cause incontinence.
• Remove clutter and use non-slip floor surfaces and adequate lighting in the bathroom.
• Height adjustment or grab rails can make the toilet easier to use.
• Consider velcro fastenings or trousers with elastic waistbands if clothing is an issue. 

If you or someone you care for experiences incontinence ask your pharmacist or GP about potential causes and what treatments may help you.

Where to go for more information

• The Bladder & Bowel Website.
• Continence Foundation of Australia.
• The National Continence Helpline: 1800 33 00 66.
• Physiotherapists specialising in continence therapies at the Australian Physiotherapy Association. 

Get to know your medicines campaign wins National Multicultural Marketing Award

NPS and the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) have won a prestigious National Multicultural Marketing Award for seminars and radio interviews run in Cantonese, Mandarin and Italian as part of the 2008 Get to know your medicines campaign. The campaign took out the AFL Community Award category at the NSW Community Relations Commission presentation dinner, which was held in Sydney on 2 November.

This is NPS and FECCA’s second award for the Get to know your medicines campaign. In July NPS, FECCA and Co.As.It Victoria won a NSW Multicultural Health Communication Award for the Italian Calendario 2009 which was distributed as part of the campaign.

Important things to know about your medicines

Knowing the name of the active ingredient in a medicine can prevent accidentally taking more medicine than you need. Most medicines are known by the brand name rather than the active ingredient name. To help people quickly identify the active ingredient in their prescription medicines, NPS created the NPS Medicine Name Finder in collaboration with the Commonwealth Government Department of Health and Ageing.

If you would like to place a link to the NPS Medicine Name Finder on your website please contact Kerren Hosking.

Information from NPS — at no cost to you!

Order

NPS has many free resources for use by community groups and health professionals. To view and order from our extensive range of medicines information resources, go to NPS online catalogue.

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eg. ‘Reproduced with permission, National Prescribing Service, MedicinesTalk <issue month and year>.’

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