About the Program

At a Divisional Level

• One-to-one practice visits to discuss objective up-to-date information on drug therapies and guidelines are offered on two therapeutic topics per year.
• Small group case study/clinical audit discussions on select therapeutics involving 3-8 GPs.
• Interactive workshops on select therapeutics, involving GPs and/or local pharmacists.

*GP participation in practice visits and nationally or locally co-ordinated NPS clinical audits & case studies will qualify practices for the annual payment of up to $1000 per full time equivalent GP under the Quality Prescribing Initiative (QPI) Practice Incentives Program (PIP). A summary of QPI-qualifying activities is available to GPs for the 2005 - 2006 cycle.Participation in NPS activities qualifies for access to QA & CPD RACGP points. For more details contact Dr Alicja Najbar-Kaszkiel.

At a National Level

The NPS is an Australian non-profit organisation that operates at arm's length of the Government and independent of the pharmaceutical industry. It has been set up in 1998 to provide a nationally coordinated range of prescribing initiatives. Currently the NPS provides access to independent, balanced, critically appraised information to prescribers of medicines, pharmacists and consumers.

At the national level, the NPS provides a number of resources to GPs:

• Resources

• Clinical audits
• Case studies
• Symptomatic management pad for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in various languages
• Management of dyslipidaemia pad
• Medicines Line brochure - patient information leaflets

• NPS News is distributed bimonthly withAustralian Prescriber and contains summaries of specific therapeutic areas and updates on complementary medicines

• Case studies are provided as inserts to NPS News and may be completed and returned to the NPS. GPs who participate receive a report on the aggregated responses

• Clinical audits developed or approved by the NPS are free to GPs and recognized by the RACGP Quality Assurance and Continuing Professional Development Program

• Prescribing Practice Reviews mailed to all GPs provide evidence-based information and prescribing data to enable doctors to review their own prescribing practices

• Therapeutic Advice and Information Service : provides independent information about medicines to health professionals - phone 1300 138 677, www.nps.org.au

• RADAR : (Rational Assessment of Drugs and Research) provides information on new drugs, PBS listings and commentaries of new research relevant to primary practice. Access quarterly RADAR releases at www.npsradar.org.au or your prescribing software (Medical Director, Genie, Locum & Plexus)

• Medicines Line – a National telephone information service for consumers which provided access to independent, accurate and up-to-date information about medicines, including prescription medicines, over-the counter, complementary meidicines and herbal and natural therapies - phone 1300 888 763

• MedicinesTalk – aims to inform consumer groups about policies and activities related to the wise use of medicines and to encourage them to be involved in associated activities

• Continuing pharmacy education activities for pharmacists.

Resources

All resources relating to the NPS program are located on the Resources page of this website. Also available are a number of multilingual resources available from NPS.

Useful Links

The Centre for Clinical Effectiveness (Monash Medical Centre)
This site provides reports of completed evidence-based medicine requests, consumer health information, a large number of links to evidence-based medicine and other health sites including Pubmed (free Medline), British Medical Journal, and the Australasian Cochrane Centre. Staff of the Southern Health Care Network may request evidence on specific questions and receive training in skills such as database searching and critical appraisal of research.

The Australasian Cochrane Centre
This site provides access to systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions across all areas of health care. The Cochrane Collaboration is an international organization that aims to enable well-informed decisions about healthcare by preparing and promoting systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions.

Quality Use of Medicines Map
This site provides access to a database of Australian projects aimed at improving the quality use of medicines (QUM). It provides contact details of researchers and health professionals involved in QUM activities and allows quick and detailed searching and the capacity to register on-line for project inclusion on the map.

Australian Prescriber
Provides free access to full text of this bimonthly journal, a source of independent information on drugs and pharmaceutical issues in Australia.

National Prescribing Service
The National Prescribing Service has all NPS publications, including clincial audits, case studies and aggregate results of completed case studies, along with access to printable patient education materials and other resources.

RADAR

Australian Medicines Handbook

Therapeutic Guidelines

Therapeutic Goods Administration

New Drug Approvals in Australia

For further information on the QUM program, contact Alicja Najbar-Kaszkiel.