The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has identified medication safety as one of its priorities. Reducing error and harm from medicines through safe and quality use of medicines is an important element of our work and is helping us to achieve our objective of leading and coordinating national safety and quality improvements in health care.
The Medication Safety Program aims to improve the safety of medication usage in Australia. Effective and safe use of medication is an area of great potential improvement in the safety and quality of health care.
The environment in which medicines are regulated, prescribed, supplied, administered and monitored in Australia is complex. It involves many stakeholders, government and non-government, at national, State and Territory levels, and includes health professionals, researchers, large and small corporations, consumers and carers.
The Commission focuses its efforts in the following four areas:
- Further standardisations of the medication management cycle (See Medication charts and other standardisations);
- Improving patient safety by reducing medication practice gaps (See Current initiatives and events);
- Medication reconciliation (See Safe prescribing tools);
- Advocating medication safety and quality by working with the National Medicines Policy Executive and other organisations working in national medication safety and quality.
National Inpatient Medication Chart - Medication charts and other standardisations
Adult medication charts
- National Inpatient Medication Chart (NIMC), other endorsed charts and support materials
