It’s CMI week
August 31, 2010
Reliable information about
medications helps consumers play a
bigger role in the management of
their health. That’s why, during Ask
Your Pharmacist Week 2010 (29
August – 4 September), Australians
are being encouraged to “Ask Your
Pharmacist” for a Consumer
Medicine Information (CMI) leaflet.
CMIs are available in an increasing
range of accessible formats – in
various languages and in large print
formats, and soon in Braille and
audio formats (developed in
conjunction with Vision Australia).
A study funded by the
Commonwealth Government as part
of the Fourth Community Pharmacy
Agreement Research and
Development (R&D) Program,
showed that more consumers were
aware of CMIs than they were five
years ago. The project also
recommended ways these
documents could be improved to
increase readability and usability.
The Investigating Consumer
Medicine Information (I-CMI) Project
found that over two thirds of
consumers (69 per cent) received a
CMI leaflet in the six months prior to
the survey, and about half of them
(38 per cent) received one in the
month prior. Of these, 39 per cent
had received a CMI directly from the
pharmacist. About half of consumers
reported wanting a CMI for their
medicines, with 44 per cent
indicating that they preferred verbal
counselling rather than written
information. The latter point
reinforces that, while CMIs are a
valuable resource, reading one does
not take the place of counselling by a
health professional.
For authentic and trustworthy
information on medicines consumers
can visit www.medicines.org.au.
There, you can find CMIs for most of
the prescription medicines available
in Australia. There is also a great
range of health information available
on the Ask Your Pharmacist website
at www.askyourpharmacist.com.au.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 31 Aug 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 31 Aug 10
