Medication Safety: Providing Credible Information

Course Overview

Any health professional who administers or is able to prescribe medicines needs access to formal education explaining how to incorporate evidence-based knowledge of medication safety into everyday practice. This Course provides essential education on how to find and utilise the most up-to-date and credible information on medicines.

Topics

• Where to go to find credible information relating to medicines;
• Resources and tips on how to ensure the most appropriate medications are administered;
• How to confidently check if a patient has been prescribed the correct dose of a medicine;
• What sources are most appropriate to identify potential drug interactions and much, much more...

Need

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has identified improving the safety and quality of medication in Australia as a key priority. Constant changes are made to medication standards, recommendations, guidelines, and to the availability of new products and advancement in research and product development.

It is essential that all registered nurses and other health professionals keep up-to-date with these changes and understand how medicines are regulated and how the Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) can be used to improve patient outcomes. It is equally important that all health professionals can identify high-quality sources of drug information to ensure that the most appropriate medications are administered.

Purpose

The purpose of this Course is to provide registered nurses and other health professionals with a general update on credible sources of medication information and the quality use of medicines.

Learning Outcomes

• Make decisions relating to medicines that will reflect Australia’s National Strategy for the Quality Use of Medicines.
• Select credible sources of information about medicines that will support the safety and needs of your patients.
• Use practical strategies to educate patients which support retention of information and medication compliance.

Target Audience

All registered nurses and nurse practitioners, as well as other health professionals who routinely administer and/or prescribe medicines.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Jenny Gowan

Jenny Gowan, a practising pharmacist, is a teaching associate at Monash University, Melbourne and a clinical associate of RMIT University. She is a member of the PSA Branch committee, the Expert Group for Therapeutic Guidelines – Respiratory version 5, an editorial board member of AUS-DI, SHPA "Don’t Rush to Crush", the Guidelines Committee for the Australian Asthma Handbook (AAH) and the writing group for the RACGP ‘Medical Care of older persons in RACF’ (Silver book). Jenny is an accredited consultant pharmacist who conducts her own company, which focuses on medication reviews in the home and aged care facilities, plus education, writing, training and consultation. Jenny works regularly in community pharmacy plus sessions in a GP clinic at a community health centre. She has published over 400 educational articles. Jenny has presented talks at many Australian and international conferences to GPs, nurse practitioners, nurses, podiatrists, pharmacists, and other health professionals. In 2013, she was awarded the Australian Pharmacist of the Year by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and, in 2016, the AACP-MIMs Australian Consultant Pharmacist of the Year. See Educator Profile