4 March 2005

Medicines can contribute to good health outcomes; however, studies have shown that about 140,000 people are admitted to hospital every year as a result of problems with their medicines, including adverse reactions.

To help avoid medicines mix-ups it is important for consumers to understand their medicines. To help, National Prescribing Service Ltd (NPS) has produced the Get to Know Your Medicines Kit. The kit provides resources to help consumers run interactive activities and events about medicines in their local communities. As the name of the kit suggests, the activities will help people better understand their medicines so they can play an active role in managing their medicines with their doctor and pharmacist.

It is possible an activity could be run in your area. We are encouraging people using the kit and organising activities to invite a local doctor or pharmacist to join in and help answer questions and it is possible members of your community may ask you for help. However, this is not essential and the kit allows the organiser to run the event independently.

The kit which consumers will use includes:

• a guide on organising and planning an activity
• a guide on promoting the activity to get people to attend
• a 24 slide presentation for use in the activity
• a guide to collecting feedback from people attending activities, including forms for participants to complete.

Samples of the kit will soon be available online, or can be ordered in a CD format at www.nps.org.au.

ENDS

National Prescribing Service Ltd (NPS) provides independent, evidence-based information and services to health professionals and the community on Quality Use of Medicines (QUM). To achieve this we work in partnership with GPs, pharmacists, specialists, other health professionals, Government, pharmaceutical industry, consumer organisations and the community.

TP 020305