CMI to be evaluated

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the University of Sydney and a consortium of international researchers are collaborating on the project, titled "Invesigating CMI (I-CMI)", which aims to assess both the delivery and format of CMIs to assist consumers understand the medicines they take.

The research will investigate the effectiveness and accessibility of current CMI delivery and explore consumers' needs and expectations in relation to medicine information.

This process will inform the design of several alternative CMI formats, which will be tested against these needs. The project will also formulate and test an appropriate delivery process for community pharmacy.

"We know that many consumers like written information about medicines in order to make informed choices about their medicines," said Patrick Reid, acting national president of the Guild.

"However there is significant anecdotal evidence that consumers are not always receiving them, and when they do, they find them alarming due to the vast amount of information provided.

"This initiative will be very valuable in helping pharmacists to improve consumer access to medicines information and, in doing so, improve quality use and management of medicines," Mr Reid said.

Dr Parisa Aslani, the project's lead investigator, said health professionals had a duty of care to provide medicine information.

"Consumers need to readily access understandable information about their medicines in order to use their medicines appropriately and optimally.

"CMI can act as an effective tool to support the counselling provided and post-consultation management of medicines, so that there is an improved experience in consumers using their medicines optimally", Dr Aslani said.