Are you taking the right drugs?

General Practice

A new research project aims to help general practitioners prescribe the best medications to their patients.

University of Adelaide Associate Lecturer Dr Peter Mansfield, who is also a practising GP in Adelaide, has received a National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), co-sponsored by Therapeutic Guidelines Limited (TGL).

Dr Mansfield will use the Fellowship to undertake a two-year project to develop an interactive and educational website to help GPs critically evaluate information from drug companies and the independent information from Therapeutic Guidelines.

"One of the best ways to improve medical care is to encourage health professionals to take evidence-based clinical practice guidelines into account," Dr Mansfield said.

"While guidelines are underused in many areas of medicine, including prescribing practice, most GPs are exposed to drug promotions. Through my Fellowship, I'll be able to provide GPs with an easy and accessible means of comparing information from these sources. This will help ensure their prescribing decisions are based on best evidence."

NHMRC Chief Executive Officer Professor Warwick Anderson said: "We congratulate Dr Mansfield and look forward to working with TGL. Our partnership with organisations involved in specific areas of health care allows us to harness our combined skills and knowledge to provide the highest level of support to our Fellows."

Dr Mansfield will join nine other health professionals from Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia as 2008 NICS Fellows.

The NHMRC is Australia's peak body for supporting health and medical research. As part of the NHMRC, the National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) works to improve health care by getting health and medical research into practice.

Therapeutic Guidelines Limited is an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to developing guidelines for therapy from the latest world literature, interpreted and distilled by Australia's most eminent and respected experts.

For more information about the other NICS Fellows, visit: www.nhmrc.gov.au/nics

Story by Robyn Mills