14 November 2009

To coincide with World Diabetes Day, the National Prescribing Service (NPS) and Diabetes TASMANIA have launched a series of short online videos that address medicines use issues for people with type 2 diabetes.

“The theme of World Diabetes Day is education and prevention, which are at the heart of diabetes management,” NPS CEO, Dr Lynn Weekes said.

“Education relates not only to understanding diabetes and how to prevent it, but also how to manage the condition. Medicines often play a huge role in the management of type 2 diabetes and related conditions, so it is important people understand potential medicines use issues.”

“These 11 short videos address issues including the types of medicines used to manage type 2 diabetes and what you should discuss with your healthcare team,” Dr Weekes said.

Diabetes TASMANIA’s CEO, Caroline Wells, said there is a need for high quality information that is easy to understand and available to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

“Type 2 diabetes is one of the fast-growing chronic illnesses in Australia – its prevalence is expected to nearly double over the next 40 years,” Ms Wells said.

“Some of the key concepts of managing type 2 diabetes are not easy to understand. Until now there has been a lack of educational resources that focus on medicines use in relation to type 2 diabetes.”

“While these online videos are not a substitute for talking to your doctor or pharmacist, they do identify the main issues people with type 2 diabetes face. A DVD for health professionals combining all the segments will also be made available in other languages including Cantonese, Mandarin and German to ensure everyone has access to the same information,” Ms Wells said.

The videos can be viewed for free at www.nps.org.au/type2diabetes  and www.diabetestas.com.au while the DVD has been produced for health professional and community organisations’ educational purposes. To order the DVD phone Diabetes TASMANIA on 03 6215 9000.

ENDS

The National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation for quality use of medicines funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.