27 October 2008

More than one in eight Australians provide unpaid care to family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness or who are frail. This issue of MedicinesTalk highlights the role of carers, with tips for people who have to make decisions about another person’s health and medicines. National Carers Week runs from 19-25 October.

Susan Goodman, Deputy Manager of the Community Quality Use of Medicines Program at NPS, says there are several medicine management options available to carers and a doctor or pharmacist can help them decide which is best for their situation.  

“Dose administration aids, or medicine organisers, are a good way of keeping track of a person’s medicine, particularly if they have to take several different ones throughout the day. The pharmacist can put a week’s supply of medicines in an organiser that stores each dose in a separate sealed compartment,” Ms Goodman said.

“A Home Medicines Review, where a pharmacist comes to the home and makes an assessment of all the medicines, including over-the-counter and complementary medicines, a person is taking, may also be of assistance. The pharmacist then writes a report to the doctor so they can review the medicine regime.”

Also covered in this issue is information about how people can dispose of expired or unwanted medicines in a safe and environmentally-friendly way, through the Return of Unwanted Medicines program, a Government-funded program set up in pharmacies throughout Australia.

This issue also looks at whether people should continue or stop their medicines if they are going into hospital for a surgical procedure. The article advises consumers to ask the surgeon if they should stop taking any of their medicines before the surgery. If advised to stop, it’s important for people to ask when they should stop it — it could be anything from 1-2 days to 2-3 weeks beforehand and also to ask when they can re-start it after the operation.

MedicinesTalk is a free quarterly newsletter written for consumers and published by the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS).

People with queries or concerns about their medicines should speak to their GP or pharmacist. They can also call the NPS Medicines Line on 1300 888 763 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm EST) and speak to a pharmacist for the cost of a local call.

To download this and past editions of MedicinesTalk visit our website or call 02 8217 8700 to subscribe and receive future editions in hard copy.

ENDS

NPS is an independent, Australian organisation for Quality Use of Medicines, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.