Health Outcomes
Population Health & Use of Medicines (PHUM) Unit
The Pharmaceutical Alliance provided foundational funding to support the operation of The Population Health and Use of Medicines Unit located in the Therapeutics Centre at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. This was launched in June 2004. The Unit's purpose is to measure and evaluate population health outcomes in Australia as they relate specifically to the use of prescription medicines. Population statistical methods were applied in tracking outcomes from clinical practice experience using a variety of existing secondary and supplementary Australian databases. The unit is conducting a series of systematic evaluations of existing data and /or evaluating health outcomes as they relate to patterns of community drug usage. Click here for launch Article in Pharma InFocus.
Conference Activity
Health Outcomes Conference
The Pharmaceutical Alliance is a regular contributor to the Health Outcomes conference in Canberra which is hosted by the Australian Health Outcomes Collaboration (Canberra Hospital). The 2005 conference, "Making a Difference", focussed on challenges regarding the evaluation of health outcomes. The Pharmaceutical Alliance's sessions were based on the learnings and outcomes from its Integrated Care Program; it hosted a plenary presentation and a separate panel discussion entitled "The Integrated Care Program: Lessons about Electronic Decision Support". Different perspectives covered were:
- future uses from an angle of informatics; Opportunities for the future from a health informatics perspective - John Johnston, Managing Director, Pen Computer Systems
- the use of the Electronic Decision Support Software (EDSS) tool in general practice; Electronic Decision Support in Action: a GP Perspective - Dr Michael Nolan, Central Bayside Division of General Practice (VIC), and A General Practice Perspective - Dorothy Walsh, a Community Nurse from Romsey Medical Centre (VIC)
- the project evaluation; Evaluation of the ICP 2 Asthma CDSS project - Andre Duszynski, Dept of General Practice, University of Adelaide
The panel sessions raised some interesting issues for discussion; the availability of web-located updateable guidelines, the enabling of the interoperability between the main systems currently in use, and the future of EDSS being integral to the management of all chronic disease as opposed to one single disease state.
In 2004 The Pharmaceutical Alliance sponsored and presented Population Health Outcomes and Medication Use.
National Medicines Symposium
The Pharmaceutical Alliance is active at these forums which are hosted by the National Prescribing Service (NPS) and PHARM:
- 2006 - Views of Quality Use of Medicines (presentation and Award winner)2006 - Views of Quality Use of Medicines (presentation and Award winner)
- 2004 - The Pharmaceutical Alliance 10 years On and Working in a Collaboration (posters)