To improve the health and wellbeing of the community it is vital that information about appropriate, quality medicines use gets out and effective messengers were congratulated last night with the announcement of the 2008 National Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Award winners.

Winning entries included programs that empowered Aboriginal health workers to speak confidently about medicines, and a project that promoted an awareness of the need to weigh patients (this is critical QUM issue relating to dosage for some medicines). Another winning entry was a series of educational magazine articles about generic medicines. There were three other winners.

The National QUM Awards are an initiative of the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) and the Pharmaceutical Health And Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee to recognise the QUM achievements of a variety of programs and activities.

The Awards were presented at the biennial National Medicines Symposium (NMS), held this year in Canberra from May 14-16. Senator the Hon Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, presented the Awards at the NMS 2008 dinner in Canberra last night.

The award winning projects reflected the breadth of QUM projects in Australia and the diversity in the groups they assist. These included Indigenous communities in the Kimberleys, New South Wales and Victoria, hospital staff in New South Wales and Queensland, as well as medical interns and war veterans across Australia.

The projects also highlighted the tangible outcomes and significance of QUM in disadvantaged communities.

NPS CEO Dr Lynn Weekes commented on the high calibre of entries the Awards attracted from across the country.

‘‘These biennial Awards recognise the achievements of stakeholders in integrating QUM principles in their everyday activities,’’ Dr Weekes said.

QUM is one of the central objectives of Australia's National Medicines Policy. QUM means selecting management options wisely, choosing suitable medicines if a medicine is considered necessary, and using medicines safely and effectively. The definition of QUM applies equally to decisions about medicine use by individuals and decisions that affect the health of the population.

A common theme among the winning entries was the need to empower and educate both mainstream and minority communities to take charge of their medicines and health.

The winners of the QUM awards 2008 are:

Community QUM Award

Winner:

Good Medicines Better Health Pilot Project, run by the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, NACCHO and NPS. Accepted by Ms Michele Robinson.

Highly Commended:

The Seniors Quality Use of Medicines National Peer Education Program administered by the COTA Partnership and COTA Alliance. Accepted by Ms Debra Petrys.

Health Organisation QUM Award (Public and not-for-profit)

Winner:

The Veterans’ Medicines Advice and Therapeutics Education Services (Veterans’ MATES), Quality Use of Medicines Program,administered by the Medication Management Section, Policy and Development Division of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Accepted by Professor Andrew Gilbert.

Highly commended:

Safe Medication Practice Unit, Queensland Health. Accepted by Elaine Lum.

Media QUM Award

Winner:

Vital Health Magazine which ran a series of generic medicines features, written for National Pharmacies and presented by Text Pacific Publishing. Accepted by Alexandra Shute.

Media QUM Award – Trade Media

Winner:

Australian Pharmacist Knowledge in Practice section, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. Accepted by Dr Lisa Nissen.

Student QUM Award

Winner:

Ms Lisa Kouladjian, for The Importance of Weight for Calculating Doses of Renally Excreted Drugs, Clinical Pharmacology Department, Royal North Shore Hospital and University of Sydney. Accepted by Ms Kouladjian.

Highly Commended:

Ms Wern Jing Ding (Jing), for Medication Alteration in Residential Aged Care Facilities, GP Partners. Accepted by Ms Anne Winkle, from GP Partners.

Highly Commended:

Mr Ian Coombes, for the Safe Medication Practice Tutorial Program for Medical Students, School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland. Accepted by Mr Coombes.

NMS 2008 Poster Award

Winner:

Medication management issues for the older person - focusing on three non-English speaking backgrounds from Diversity Health and Community Health Services at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. Accepted by Ms Jenny Blennerhassett.

Highly Commended:

Patterns of asthma medication use: an Australian population-based longitudinal study from the Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring. Accepted by Ms Leanne Poulos.

ENDS

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is an independent, non-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 health professionals, government, pharmaceutical industry and consumers. NPS is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.