NPS MedicineWise is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care through the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology Program to improve the way medicines and medical tests are prescribed and used (QUM grant).
Safe use of medicines in older people aims to increase health professional knowledge of medicines with anticholinergic effects and reduce their inappropriate use, reduce medicine-related harms and hospital admissions for older people and increase the level of consumer health literacy related to quality use of anticholinergic medicines, including potential benefits and harms.
Program facts and figures
- Program delivery: August 2021 – June 2022
- Program reach: National delivery of educational visits to 6000 health professionals
- Pre-program estimated PBS savings: $3,171,313
- Program costs Financial Year 2021-22:
Health professional resources
- Program landing page: Anticholinergic burden: the unintended consequences for older people
- Educational visits:
- For GPs (CPD accredited) including MedicineInsight practices
- To residential aged care facilities (RACFs) (CPD accredited)
- Clinical tools and resources
- Toolkit for RACFs
- Medication management review template and guiding principles
- Online case study
- Webinars
- Web content
- Local multidisciplinary case learning events
Consumer resources
- Consumer factsheets about Home Medicines Review (HMR) and Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR)
- Deprescribing patient action plan
- Deprescribing decision aid
- Choosing Wisely 5 questions resource
- Virtual information session for residents, carers and families
- Translated resources for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities
- Adapted resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.
- MedicineWise App
- Web content