GAP Australasian Dentist Mar Apr 2020

Category 116 Austràlàsiàn Dentist G ood medicines information is critical to dental practice. Choose high- quality, pre-appraised sources first and make sure they are current. àelect the information that is most relevant to the needs of your particular patient. àake the time to become familiar with the features of the resources you use. Australian Medicines Handbook, àherapeutic Guidelines, Australian Prescriber and àPà MedicineWise cover most routine clinical practice needs. Dentists have a duty of care to provide an up to date dispensing service in their practice. Acumen Dental makes that easy. Dentists that provide a dispensing service in their practice get better compliance outcomes, deliver a more complete and convenient treatment, saving time, money and often generating a new source of income. All dentists should be prescribing and dispensing in their own practice for the benefit of their patient as a complete professional clinical service. àsing reliable information resources informs safe and consistent practice. àhere is so much information available on medicines that it can be hard to identify accurate, current, unbiased and evidence- based resources. Questions to consider when selecting an information source àot all information sources are reliable, so ask yourself some simple questions to appraise them. Is it evidence-based? àave time by looking at high-quality, pre-appraised evidence sources first, such as the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) and the àherapeutic Guidelines. àhese are sources which have done the work of searching and critically appraising the evidence for you. àhey integrate this evidence with expert review to produce the best advice currently available. àystematic reviews and meta-analyses are the next best evidence. àeviews that are not systematic, older texts, and clinical trial reports (even randomised controlled trials) are lower quality evidence and require critical appraisal. Is it current? Check the date of publication or review date for guidelines, websites and texts. Older information and texts should be used with caution. Medicine changes rapidly and many previously accepted practices have later been shown to be incorrect. Is it relevant to your patient? àhe type of information you require dictates where you should look first. Consider individual patient needs. àpecific information may be needed for older people, children, pregnant or lactating women, those with organ impairment or comorbidities. Sources of medicines information AMH, àherapeutic Guidelines and àPà MedicineWise cover most commonly prescribed medicines and conditions and should be among the first resources consulted. àhis information is evidence- based, current and reflects Australian best practice. àhe layout of AMH and àherapeutic Guidelines also allows rapid access to the information needed to prescribe safely. àPà MedicineWise and Australian Prescriber provide free, reliable, independent information on drugs and therapeutics. àPà MedicineWise produces a number of resources prescribers can rely on to stay informed. Australian Prescriber covers therapeutic issues and controversies, new drugs and their place in therapy, and provides practical reviews on drug use and diagnostic tests. Pharmaceutical companies can provide information on their own products, including detailed information on stability, excipients and adverse effects. Product information and consumer medicines information àhe product information contains basic information on a medicine including its ingredients, pharmacokinetics, mechanismofaction,approvedindications, doses, contraindications, precautions, adverse effects and appearance. àt does not contain comparative information. àhe product information is written by the pharmaceutical company sponsor, then reviewed and amended by the àherapeutic Goods Administration (àGA). Your patients will benefit from the time you take to learn what resources best answer specific questions about medicines and their use. àeek advice if you are unable to find the information you need. àPà MedicineWise maintains a list of medicines resources including telephone services and free Australian resources. Complimentary tools, templates and resources – when you join Acumen Dental Acumen Dental is Australia’s first specialist on-line service providing comprehensive tools, templates and resource including all the products dentists need to dispense and all the guidance for proper storing and labelling all in one convenient online site. Go to https://acumen.dental u Dr Mike Ryan (DBA) – Acumen Dental Dental Dispensing go to https://acumen.dental to start dispensing Contacted info@acumen.dental or fax to 03 9568 2885 or write to PO Box 608, Carnegie 3163 Dental dispensing – the right tool for the job Where do dentists find good drug information? àoluàn tà