• NPS gets a fresh new look
• Hypertension
• Medicines Line update
• Finding Evidence — Recognising Hype
• Feed your competency 
• NPS publications

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NPS gets a fresh new look

On 1 July the National Prescribing Service officially changed names to become NPS – Better choices, Better health. The rebrand marks a new chapter in NPS’s history as it strives to become a household name and enable all Australians to be medicinewise.

‘The National Prescribing Service is no longer a broad enough descriptor for what we do. Our work goes beyond prescription medicines and we now address all medicines and quality use of medical tests’, NPS CEO, Dr Lynn Weekes said.

‘We also want to become a household name by 2018 and for quality use of medicines to be widely understood and implemented. This fresh new look, and consistent branding across all our products and services will help us get there.’

Given the value we have built in our existing brand over 12 years, we have sought evolution rather than revolution. Our research also showed that while consumers aren’t very familiar with us, health professionals are and many already refer to us as NPS. It was important to retain the equity in our name with existing audiences while being clear and understandable to new audiences we are trying to reach.

If you have any references to National Prescribing Service in your organisation’s resources or on your website, please update these to NPS – Better choices, Better health.
For an electronic file of the new logo please contact Bernadette Broadbent or call 02 8217 8623.

Hypertension

Practice nurses have a vital role in the management of patients with hypertension in the community. Treatment decisions on the management of these patients should be based on the individual’s absolute cardiovascular risk as well as blood pressure. Practice nurses are well placed to undertake these assessments.

Our latest NPS therapeutic program Treating hypertension: achieving better blood pressure control highlights the importance of assessing absolute cardiovascular risk in patients with hypertension and recommending lifestyle changes to reduce this risk, as well as advice on starting and monitoring antihypertensive drug therapy.

Health professionals are encouraged to:

• use a risk assessment tool to assess absolute cardiovascular risk in patients with uncomplicated hypertension
• use measurements from outside the clinic, especially for patients with unusual variation between readings
• address lifestyle changes to reduce absolute cardiovascular risk, especially smoking cessation and limiting alcohol intake
• start patients with uncomplicated hypertension on antihypertensive monotherapy
• consider coexisiting conditions when choosing antihypertensive therapy.

As part of the therapeutic program, nurses can participate in the following case study:

Case study 65: Optimising blood pressure control

A publication focusing on treating hypertension is also available:

Prescribing Practice Review 52: Treating Hypertension: Achieving better blood pressure control.

Find out more about therapeutic information and clinical activities to improve your practice.

Phone services update

From 1 July some changes have taken place in relation to our phone services. The Therapeutic Advisory Information Service (TAIS) for health professionals has ceased operation. To assist health professionals seeking medicines information, we have created a web page with links to information sources and services. Visit the ‘Guide to medicines information resources’ page on our website.

Medicines Line — the medicine information phone service for consumers — is now being delivered in collaboration with the National Healthcare Call Centre Network service, healthdirect Australia.

As part of the new collaboration Medicines Line has a new number: 1300 MEDICINE (1300 633 424).

Under the new model, healthdirect Australia registered nurses will answer calls in the first instance. If the query is complex, they will triage calls during business hours to specialist medicine-information pharmacists at NPS or advise the caller to see their local pharmacist or general practitioner.

The hours for Medicines Line remain Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm (AEST) though calls outside these hours will still be answered by healthdirect Australia.

Please note the Adverse Medicine Events (AME) line which NPS also funds will not be affected by these changes and its number — 1300 134 237 — remains the same.

Finding Evidence — Recognising Hype

NPS has developed a new online program to enable health professionals to be better equipped at making informed choices about new medicines. Finding Evidence — Recognising Hype is designed to improve skills and confidence in finding reliable information and assessing new medicines.
Although the program is primarily designed for general practitioners, other health professionals including nurses are welcome to undertake this case-based program.

The program offers:

• interactive case-based learning modules you can complete at your own pace
• access to high quality resources and tools for evidence-based prescribing
• comprehensive course content (approximately 6 hours) to help you develop:
• • skills in asking questions about new drugs and connecting these questions to the research evidence
  • an understanding of the limited knowledge about new drugs
  • effective ways to communicate the risks and benefits of treatment options to patients
  • skills in ‘reading’ clinical trial research efficiently and critically
  • skills to critically review the role of promotional materials in prescribing
  • the confidence in locating information that meets your needs.

Start today - register for free on the NPS online learning site.

Feed your competency

Case study

Complete a case study to help refine your clinical decision-making skills. You can download the latest case study or visit the NPS health professionals home page for more information.

Practice nurses

Remember, you can participate in educational visits and facilitated small group case discussions. Just contact the NPS facilitator at your local division of general practice.

Nurse practitioners

Charles Darwin University and NPS have collaborated to produce a series of online case-based modules for nurse practitioners.

The Quality Use of Medicines for Nurse Practitioners website has been designed for the ongoing professional development of nurse practitioners. For access to case studies and resources register via the website.

Registered nurses in residential aged care

Visit the medication management website for useful resources and tools.

NPS publications

NPS News

NPS News is a bi-monthly publication, keeping you informed of quality use of medicines issues in relation to different therapeutic areas.

Read the latest NPS News: A planned approach to prescribing opioids.  

Prescribing Practice Review

Prescribing Practice Review provides key messages for quality prescribing on selected therapeutic topics and evidence-based prescribing information.

Download the latest Prescribing Practice Review from the NPS website.

NPS RADAR

NPS RADAR offers evidence-based information about new medicines, new Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) listings and research.

Visit the NPS RADAR home page to download the latest issue.

Australian Prescriber

Australian Prescriber is a bi-monthly, independent publication that provides readily accessible information about drugs and therapeutics.

Visit the Australian Prescriber website to download the April 2010 issue.

Consumer publications

NPS also offers a range of consumer publications and resources that provide the same quality, evidence-based information that you have come to expect from our professional resources, written in an easy to understand language. You may find these publications and resources useful to provide to patients or their families in your care.

MedicinesTalk

MedicinesTalk is written by consumers for consumers. We invite you to print copies for use in doctors’ rooms, hospital waiting rooms and visitors’ areas.

Download the latest Medicines Talk from the NPS website.

Medicine Update

Medicine Update lets you know about new medicines and new PBS listings. Each issue provides an independent assessment of current information and research about a different medicine.

Visit the NPS Consumer home page to download the latest Medicine Update.

Order consumer resources

NPS offers a range of consumer fact sheets, tools and information resources that you can order online for free including some translated medicines information in Chinese, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Croatian and Macedonian.

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_{NPS – Better choices, better health. Independent, not-for-profit and evidence based, NPS enables better decisions about medicines and medical tests. We are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.}