Migrants focus of safe medicine campaign

Most Australians at some stage will take medication for either a chronic or temporary medical condition.

But according to the National Prescribing Service, also known as NPS MedicineWise, around 190,000 people a year are admitted into hospital because of a medication-related problem.

The service says medication use can be especially difficult for people with limited English who may miss out on important information about how to use medication safely.

While adverse reactions to medication use are not uncommon, the New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service says people with limited English may be at a higher risk of complications.

The Service says research from the United States shows complication rates from medicine use are 20 per cent higher for patients from non-English speaking backgrounds, and it believes a similar situation could be occurring here.

The Service has teamed up with NPS MedicineWise to raise awareness among migrant communities of safe medicine use.

Manager of the NPS MedicineWise phone information line, Sarah Spagnardi, says the service is concerned that the message about safe medicine use isn't getting through to some Australians.

"Some of the things that come to mind are that they don't understand verbal instructions or explanations that might be given. They are often possibly unable to read the label on their prescribed medicines or even on any product that they might purchase. Consumer medicine information leaflets can also be challenging and certainly there may also be some cultural differences in terms of how asking questions of a health professional is perceived, in some cultures it may be seen as disrespectful to ask questions rather than just passively receive information and people may not feel comfortable alerting someone to the fact that they're not understanding what is being said to them."

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show about 25 per cent of Australians were born overseas.

The last Census shows Australians are a diverse bunch, coming from 200 countries and speaking over 300 different languages at home.

NPS MedicineWise says attitudes to medicine use are influenced by cultural background and, if born overseas, by experiences with other health systems.

Originally from Egypt, Sami Tadros has worked in both Egypt and Australia as a pharmacist and in other areas of the industry.

"Self-medication is one of the areas which is very common in the community, where they can almost diagnose themselves and they go and get medication where they either knew it worked before or it worked for someone else. There is no way you can diagnose and self-medicate. Which brings me to a second point which is the cross-medication, if you like. Whenever I feel like something and I know that my cousin or my aunty or my relative felt the same, and they were taking such and such, so they exchange medicines."

NPS MedicineWise says many cultures have a long history of traditional medicine.

But they say in Australia, some people may not be aware of the way traditional medicines interact with prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

There is also a reluctance to tell doctors and pharmacists that they are using traditional or herbal medicines for fear of disapproval.

Emmanuel Pippos is a locum pharmacist in Queensland.

He says patients should always disclose what they're taking to prevent dangerous interactions from occurring.

"You might find a young person who is taking an antidepressant and one of the features of this sort of medication is that it takes a little while for the medication to reach its maximum effect, so it could take up to six weeks in some instances. So you might have the situation where the young person taking this medication doesn't feel well enough, quickly enough and they talk to one of their friends and one of the friends says, oh listen I went and tried this vitamin, this herbal preparation called St. John's Wort which is also used for mild depression. They go into the pharmacy they ask for St. John's Wort and unless the staff are on the ball and ask the question, are you taking any other medicines you can have the situation where you are taking two medicines to treat the same condition and in this instance there is the potential for an interaction known as a serotonin syndrome. It is not just older people, it is younger people who need to be vigilant and make sure that they're coming forward with the information to the pharmacist."

Another area of concern is the practice of using medicines bought overseas.

This increases the risk of taking the wrong dose because strengths can differ from country to country.

Factors such as cost and availability may also persuade some people to send medications to friends and family overseas.

But NPS MedicineWise says if the medication is subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, it is illegal to send it overseas.

Sami Tadros says there are many differences in the way medication is used and distributed in different countries.

In Egypt for example, labelling is not as detailed as it is in Australia, meaning people could take the wrong dose or the wrong medicine.

"Back in their country you don't get many labelled medications like we have here. So if you've got a box of medicine A, you know that this is for example for arthritis and a dose on it. It is not specifically given to you Mr. A or Mrs B. So the minute you see it in the cupboard, you say oh, I'll take this one or that one, it is good for athritis for example. While here we learn to label medication to the person with the right dosage for the right indication, and we try to stick to that and we try to get this message across."

NPS says consumers who are tempted to purchase various medications over the internet need to be aware that many sites are fake, or sell poor quality medicines.

It recommends avoiding overseas sites, as medicines purchased overseas may have different ingredients to those produced in Australia.

It is also illegal for some medicines to be sent to Australia by post.

NPS MedicineWise recommends that if consumers are buying medicines form online pharmacies in Australia, they should only do so from those which request a prescription from a doctor.

The NPS MedicineWise phone service can organise an interpreter service for people wanting more information about medication.

The telephone interpreter phone number is 13 14 50.