National Inpatient Medication Chart

   

At the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference in April 2004, Ministers agreed that;

“to reduce the harm to patients from medication errors, by June 2006, all public hospitals will be using a common mediation chart. This means that the same chart will be used wherever a doctor or nurse works and wherever the patient is within a hospital.”

The response to the Health Ministers was the National Inpatient Medication Chart which has been implemented across Australian public hospitals and across a significant number of private hospitals. The current National Inpatient Medication Chart Version E is available below along with guidelines for its use.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is charged with maintaining national version control of the National Inpatient Medication Chart (NIMC) and with identifying national impediments to implementation. It has created the NIMC Oversight Committee to advise the Commission Office on its NIMC responsibilities. The NIMC Oversight Committee brings together representatives from the jurisdictions, the private sector, practitioners and content experts. It also advises the Commission on how the NIMC will be transitioned into an e-health environment.

The NIMC Oversight Committee intends creating a National Issues Register on this site in the near future. The Register will note implementation and use issues of national importance and the solutions which have been found for them. This will be a valuable tool for facilities implementing, and working with, the NIMC Version E.

The NIMC is a significant quality improvement strategy to address safety and quality issues associated with the prescribing, dispensing, administering and reviewing of medications in hospitals. Building on the significant work of Queensland Health, the former Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care’s National Medication Chart Working Party developed, finalised and piloted the NIMC. The pilot identified different implementation processes and tools required for different health settings. A report on the Pilot is available below.

• National Inpatient Medication Chart Version E (PDF 98 KB)
• National Inpatient Medication Chart Guidelines (PDF 1313 KB)
• Australian Health Ministers' Joint Communique 23 April 2004 (PDF 20 KB)
• Rationale for a National Medication Chart (PDF 25 KB)
• NIMC Pilot Aggregate Data Report (PDF 270 KB)
• Jurisdictional Guidelines for Local Management of the National Inpatient Medication Chart (PDF 173 KB)