NPS Member update
Friday 15 June 2007
1. Dr Ross Maxwell appointed NPS Director
2. Former NPS
Chair
3. FECCA
joins NPS membership
4. Common colds need common sense, not
antibiotics campaign
5.
Stakeholder Reference Groups: have your say
6. Online
case studies and clinical audits prove popular
7.
Partnerships deliver therapeutic programs
8.
9. Peer
educators take centre stage
10. More
students use online prescribing curriculum
11. New NPS
publication for consumers: Medicine
Update
12. The
latest Australian Prescriber is out
now
The immediate past President of the Rural Doctors Association of
Australia, Dr Ross Maxwell, is a Director of the National Prescribing Service
Limited (NPS). Dr Maxwell replaces Dr Richard Abbott, who brought a valuable
rural GP perspective to the NPS Board from 2001.
Ross Maxwell works within the
Southern Queensland Rural Division of General Practice and the Queensland AMA.
He is currently the Board Treasurer of Health WorkForce
For more information go to the media
section of the NPS website.
Dr Stephen Robert Phillips has been
awarded a Medal of the Order of
NPS Chair Dr Roger Boyd
congratulated Stephen on behalf of the organisation and stated that "I am
delighted that your enormous contributions to the medical profession, the
community and especially your role in Quality Use of Medicines (particularly
through NPS) have been recognised by this well earned and much deserved award
of OAM."
The Federation of Ethnic
Communities' Councils of Australia (FECCA) has joined NPS as the 44th
member organisation. FECCA is a longstanding partner in the multicultural arm
of our Community QUM program.
FECCA is the Australian national
peak body that promotes multiculturalism, community harmony and social justice.
Involved in community education, advocacy for equitable access to services and
information for Australians from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
FECCA also works for human and cultural rights.
For more information visit FECCA's
website at www.fecca.org.au
The beginning of winter heralds the
launch of NPS's annual Common colds need
common sense, not antibiotics campaign.
The campaign addresses the
appropriate use of antibiotics. One quarter of adults and just over one in
seven mothers of young children continue to incorrectly believe that
antibiotics can treat a common cold, according to an NPS commissioned Newspoll
survey.
The NPS common colds campaign is the
only Australia-wide campaign aimed at reducing the inappropriate use of
antibiotics for viral respiratory tract infections and ultimately antibiotic
resistance.
This year NPS is inviting primary
schools across
This year, the campaign will enter
the workforce for the first time - Ross Human Directions will partner with NPS
to help spread the common colds need common sense, not antibiotics message in
their workplaces around the country.
The campaign will also remind people
of the importance of remembering that simple steps can help stop the spread of
common colds and flu: "Take it easy, relieve your symptoms, and see your
doctor or pharmacist if it gets worse".
NPS would like to thank the
following members for endorsing the Common
colds need common sense, not antibiotics national campaign: ACRRM; APNA;
ASMI; HCRRA; NSW TAG; PSA; RACP; RDAA; SHPA; The Pharmacy Guild of Australia;
and Therapeutic Guidelines.
For more information on the
campaign, go to commoncolds.nps.org.au
NPS is hosting a range of stakeholder Reference Groups (SRG) groups in 2007.
The following five SRGs have been
confirmed
A letter to all member organisations
providing more details about the SRGs was sent on 1 June 2007. CEOs of NPS member
organisations will be contacted shortly to discuss participation.
Please contact
More than 300 health professionals
participated in the first NPS case study available on-line - case study (no. 46)
Antibiotic therapy for animal bites - released February 2007.
The latest on-line case studies (no.
47) on the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia and (no.
48) on achieving tight BP control are available on our website now. The
case studies are also available in print.
On the audit front, the clinical
e-audit for GPs, optimising drug use in ischaemic heart disease, has now
attracted more than 1,000 enrolments with 300 GPs completing the audit.
Meanwhile, the April 2007 edition of
NPS News (no. 51) explores current
research on the merits of using atypical antipsychotics to treat schizophrenia
- a growing trend - compared to conventional drugs.
The latest NPS News (no.
52) discusses managing hypertension as a cardiovascular risk factor.
And the current issue of Prescribing Practice Review (no. 37) has focused on the
role of antipsychotics in managing behavioural and psychological symptoms of
dementia.
The osteoporosis management program
will be delivered to GPs and other health professionals in partnership with
Divisions of General Practice (DGP) in the second half of the year. The
osteoporosis program will be preceded by the August NPS News and commence in September.
Meanwhile, 90 DGPs are implementing
and around seven DGPs have completed the Analgesics
in persistent pain program.
Also, 69 DGPs will be rolling out
the selective use of antibiotics program,
health professional scan also complete the on-line case study Antibiotic therapy for animal bites.
In addition to the programs run in
partnership with DGPs, the management of
hypertension program will run from June-September 2007 and includes GP and
pharmacist audits.
For more information about these
programs contact info@nps.org.au or phone
02 8217 8700.
Close to one hundred pharmaceutical
industry representatives came together on
22 May 2007 to debate how best to incorporate
One of the questions addressed
included "What should pharmaceutical
industry marketing
material incorporating
The NPS MILG, comprising pharmaceutical
industry representatives, industry associations and NPS staff, organised this
inaugural
The inaugural, two-day National
Forum for 120 peer educators, COTA and NPS staff was held in
Forty four of the peer educators delivered presentations on
a range of topics including working with multicultural audiences, tips for
presenters and using Medicines Line.
2007 Senior Australian of the Year
Philip Herreen, the Consumers Health Forum's Mitch Messer and Jan Donovan, the
Pharmacy Guild's Bruce Shaw, and the Return of Unwanted Medicines Project's
Simon Appel delivered the keynote addresses.
During the event, enthusiasm and
motivation were palpable and reflected in the strong participation and number
of questions to our keynote speakers.
There has been a significant
increase in the number of students using the free NPS online prescribing
curriculum for university medical students.
Nineteen per cent more students used
the online prescribing curriculum in
2006 than 2005.
The top five curriculum modules
accessed by students were Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (66% of
students); Post-operative pain & vomiting (61%); Peptic Ulcer Disease 1
(58%); Anticoagulants (57%) and Hypertension (55%).
The Curriculum, which is designed to
bolster medical students prescribing knowledge, will also be rolled out to
other health professionals.
For more information go to the media section of the NPS
website.
Medicine Update, a new information leaflet designed to help consumers understand new
medicines, has been released.
As a consumer-focused version of RADAR, Medicine Update will help answer questions that are commonly asked
about medicines when they first become available through the PBS. It explains
what the medicine is, how it compares with other medicines, and whether there
are non-drug alternatives as well as important risks and benefits.
The first edition of Medicine Update reviews the nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drug, lumiracoxib (Prexige), and compares it with other
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the management of osteoarthritis.
Medicine Update should be read in conjunction with Consumer Medicines Information
(CMI), which can be obtained from a doctor or pharmacist, or from the NPS
website.
To read Medicine Update, visit www.nps.org.au/consumers.
Prescribing rights, enhancing
quality use of medicines, and uncertain optimum treatment are discussed in the
latest edition of Australian Prescriber.
Extending prescribing rights to
health professionals other than doctors is controversial. Emeritus Professor
Tony Smith suggests that no changes should be made until there are improvements
in our monitoring of prescribing.
In relation to the quality use of
medicines, opportunities for enhancement under the current system are
addressed. Professor Paul Abbott tells us that antibiotics are often
inappropriate treatments for dental pain, while Michael Abramson, Nicholas
Glasgow and Christine McDonald say that many patients are not receiving optimum
care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
With regard to areas of medicine
where optimum treatment is uncertain, David Pyle and Professor Philip Mitchell
discuss the role of long-term antidepressants in bipolar disorders, while
Senior Consultant Physician Bill Hague discusses the use of metformin during
pregnancy.
Australian Prescriber is available in electronic format on www.australianprescriber.com or
on the NPS website.
To receive
more information on any of the topics in this newsletter or to change your
email address, subscribe or unsubscribe to NPS member update email please send
your request to mdemann@nps.org.au.
NPS Member
update is a regular publication from the National Prescribing Service, Level
7/418A
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.
© National
Prescribing Service 2007
Kind regards,
Corporate Public Affairs and Marketing
National Prescribing Service Limited
Level 7/418A Elizabeth St Surry
Hills NSW 2010
PO Box 1147 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
P: 02 8217 8700
F: 02 9211 7578