Seniors Quality Use of Medicines
COTA WA, in partnership with the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS), deliver free medicines information sessions to Australian seniors. These interactive sessions show you how to get the best results from your medicines, avoid mix-ups and get reliable information. The sessions are delivered to seniors groups, clubs and organisations by trained peer educators.
What is it?
The SQUM program is a national education program consisting of community education sessions that are run by trained senior volunteers for seniors. The goals of the program are:
To ensure seniors better understand their medicines and enjoy better health
To reduce the number of medicine mix ups
To ensure uptake of medimate and medicines line
To ensure that generic medicines are understood by seniors.
Why is it important?
More than 86% of seniors are on at least one medicine
There are more than 140,000 hospital admissions every year that can be attributed to medicine mishaps
Seniors are also more likely:
To be using five or more medicines regularly
To be using more than 12 doses of medicines per day
To have significant changes in treatment regimen in the last three months
To be taking drugs with a narrow therapeutic window or requiring monitoring such as blood tests
To forget to take their medicines and have difficulty using devices such as inhalers
To be experiencing literacy or language difficulties; dexterity problems; impaired eyesight; confusion / dementia
To be attending a number of different doctors
To have recently been discharged from a health care facility or hospital
Interested in a free information session for your group?
To book a free medicines information session for your seniors club or community group, please contact Jane Newsome at Council On The Ageing on 08 9321 2133
National Prescribing Service Limited
NPS is a non-profit organisation funded by the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing. NPS produces a number of resources to help you with your medicines.
Chronic Pain
NPS and Arthritis NSW have developed a booklet to help you manage your arthritis pain, in consultation with your doctor and other health professionals. The booklet includes a pain diary to help you track your levels of pain. An information brochure about arthritis pain is also available in traditional Chinese script.
Medicines List
The Medicines List is a handy tool you can use to record the medicines you take. Keep your medicines list up-to-date and bring it with you when you visit the doctor. Some of the most important things you need to know - what your medicine is for, how much to use and when to use it - are on the medicines list.
Type 2 Diabetes
NPS and Diabetes Tasmania have developed a series of short videos on diabetes about the condition, how it is managed and how to keep yourself in the best possible health.
MedicinesTalk
Written by consumers for consumers, MedicinesTalk is a free quarterly newsletter that gives you reliable, accurate information and useful hints on managing your medicines.
You can access all NPS resources on the website: www.nps.org.au/consumers.