Medicines and You

COTA, in partnership with NPS: Better choices, Better health, delivers free information sessions to Australian seniors, to help you get the best out of your medicines. The Medicines and You information session aims to increase your awareness of how to get better results from medicines, how to avoid mix-ups, and where to access reliable medicine information.

The Medicines and You session can also be be presented with additional information about one of the  following topics:

• Healthy Sleep
• Chronic Pain
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Managing Pain – over the counter pain relievers
• Antibiotics

For more information on these free sessions please contact COTA WA on 9321 2133 or email admin@cotawa.org.au
Independent, not-for-profit and evidence based, NPS enables better decisions about medicines and medical tests. NPS is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

NPS produces free resources to help you with your medicines, including:

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 wth 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.

 

 

Medicines Line – 1300 633 424
NPS collaborates with healthdirect Australia to deliver Medicines Line, a telephone service providing consumers with information on prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines.

Call Medicines Line on 1300 MEDICINE (1300 633 424) from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local phone call (calls from mobiles may cost more). This service is available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm EST (excluding NSW public holidays).

 

Sleep Quiz
How well do you sleep? Take the quiz* on the NPS website to learn about the quality of your sleep. You can use the results from the sleep quiz to discuss any concerns with your doctor.

Visit www.nps.org.au/sleep for some useful tips to help you get to sleep – and stay asleep.
 

MedicinesTalk

Written by consumers for consumers, MedicinesTalk is a free quarterly newsletter that gives your reliable, accurate information and useful hints on managing your medicines.

Why are we offered a choice of medicine?
Knowing why you may be offered a choice of medicines is an important part of being medicinewise. NPS has developed a brochure which aims to increase consumer confidence when making choices between brands of medicines and in identifying the active ingredient in their medicines.

Order this resource or find out more about medicine brand choices.

Why does it matter which pain reliever I choose?
There can be risks in taking over-the-counter pain relievers when they are not taken as directed, interact with another medicine or are used by people who have certain health conditions.

NPS has developed a brochure with information about over-the-counter pain relievers. Order this resource or find out more about over-the-counter pain relievers.

Be MedicineWise flyer
It can be a challenge to keep track of everything you need to know about your medicines and what to discuss with your doctor or pharmacist.

NPS has developed the Be MedicineWise flyer to remind you of the things you can do to learn about, discuss and manage your health and medicines. Order this resource.

Managing 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.
You can access all NPS resources on the website: www.nps.org.au/consumers © 2010,1989, University of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved. Developed by Buysse,D.J., Reynolds,C.F., Monk,T.H., Berman,S.R., and Kupfer,D.J. of the University of Pittsburgh using National Institute of Mental Health Funding.