DVA and QUM

Dose administration aid service

The right dose

 

The Department of Veterans' Affairs DVA Dose Administration Aid (DAA) Service

The Dose Administration Aid (DAA) Service builds on DVA’s Quality Use of Medicines programs, which include the Veterans’ Medicines Advice and Therapeutics Education Services (Veterans’ MATES) program, and aims to assist the veteran community to get the most out of their medicines and to reduce medication mismanagement.
The DAA Service provides veterans, war widows and other eligible DVA clients with regularly filled pillboxes and the ongoing coordinated care of their doctor and pharmacist. AGPN promotes this initiative through general practice.

Aims
The aims of the Dose Administration Aid (DAA) Service are to improve veterans’ health outcomes through better, safer use of medication.

Objectives

•    better health;
•    lower mortality;
•    improved medication adherence;
•    reduction of solid medicines in veterans’ homes;
•    better health records; and
•    a cost effective service

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) provides services to entitled veterans, war widows/widowers and their dependants under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004. Approximately 300,000 Gold and White Card beneficiaries are entitled to treatment services.

During 2005/06, over fifteen million dispensings under the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) were approved at a cost of $465 million. With an average age of 79 years, the rapidly ageing veteran community typically have more health problems, more complex medical conditions and tend to be more reliant on medications than younger populations. They are therefore, more likely to be at risk of medication related adverse events.
Medication error is one of the most common causes of unintentional harm in Australia which results in an estimated 140,000 hospital admissions every year. DVA has programs in place designed to reduce medication misadventure in the veteran community, improve their wellbeing, keep them at home and avoid preventable admissions to hospitals due to medication mismanagement.

Veterans’ MATES is a consortium of prominent institutions including the University of South Australia’s Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, the University of Adelaide, the National Prescribing Service, the Australian Medicines Handbook, the Drug and Therapeutics Information Service and the Repatriation General Hospital Daw Park. Through its Veterans’ MATES program, DVA has enlisted the help of doctors and pharmacists to ensure veterans and war widows/widowers receive the best medication for their condition.
The teaching modules will provide feedback, evidence-based materials and practice visits for selected medical practitioners for whom the module material is relevant.

The program draws on RPBS data to identify and address potential medication-related problems among veterans. Modules include resource materials for veterans, prescribing doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals such as nurses. All module material is made available on-line at the Veterans' MATES pages

The Department, AGPN and the Division Network  is supporting a close working relationship with GPs to alert them to potential medication problems that have been identified with their veteran patients and to seek their co-operation in investigating and resolving any problems. GPs are encouraged to review medication profiles, make any necessary changes in treatment or arrange a medication review for the veteran.

Other DVA GP/pharmacy initiatives
MediWise - DVA sponsors kits produced by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) which are then used by pharmacists as the basis for providing presentations on the appropriate use of medicines. These kits include MediList and Health Record cards that allow veterans and war widows/widowers to record all their medicines and instructions for taking them. These records can be updated by GP or other health care provider.
AGPN promotes quality use of medicines and the program mentioned  through our Division Network to all of General Practice and Pharmacy.

Updated 13/08/2010