E-drug: Patient education (cont'd)
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G'day all,
Australia now has Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) on most
of its prescription drugs. It is a requirement now for CMI to be
produced by the drug company before the drug is released onto
the market. Once a drug company has submitted the Product
Information to the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC)
and it has been looked at and suggestions made, the company
then has to prepare a CMI.
Australia has a National Health System with most of its drugs
covered by the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) and
ultimately paid by the government. Australia's pharmacies (if they
have joined the scheme) are also paid about 10c a subsidised
prescription to supply CMI under the guidelines of the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and also promote that we can
supply CMI.
The CMI is supplied by the drug companies to our dispense
software suppliers and then to us and is printed out on A4. A CMI is
usually anywhere between 3-6 pages long in fairly simple
language. As it is supplied by the drug companies (after approval
by the ADEC) it is usually branded information. I have them all in
PDF. The file has 2315 different CMI's and is over 80mb in size, so
it is impossible to send, but I am happy to send one or two (size up
to 40kb each) to anyone who might like to read them. Let me know
which drug you want and I will see if I have it. Email me direct on
pharmacist@bitethedust.com.au
Here are the guidelines for supplying CMI produced by the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia:
Pharmacists participating in the Medicines Information to
Consumers (MIC) Program are required to provide Consumer
Medicine Information (CMI) to consumers in accordance with PSA
professional standards and guidelines.* CMI does not need to be
provided with every prescription dispensed. In the final analysis,
pharmacists themselves-exercising their professional
judgement-will make the decision whether or not to provide CMI.
According to the PSA guidelines, all counselling on dispensed
medicines must be conducted by a pharmacist. CMI should
generally be provided:
1. When a medicine is first provided to a consumer.
2. On provision of medicine where:
- a significant change to the CMI has been notified by a sponsor; or
- the dosage form has been changed.
3. With each supply of medicine for which there are valid reasons
for regular reinforcement of information. For example, when:
- the medication is teratogenic;
- there are major contraindications to the use of a medicine; or
- the patient has special needs.
4. When the patient requests the information.
5. At regular intervals for medicines used for long term therapy - for
example, every six months.
NOTE: As an approved participant in the MIC Program, you also
need to promote to consumers the availability of CMI in your
pharmacy.
I hope this helps,
Andrew
Andrew Roberts Bpharm MACPP
Pharmacist
Australia
Tel: +61 (0) 419 130060
http://www.bitethedust.com.au/
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