Medication can be an important tool in the treatment of mental illness.
When prescribing medication to people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background it is important to consider how beliefs about mental illness and the use of medication can impact on medicine use. Some factors to consider include:
- The impact that stigma about mental illness or medication use may have on adherence.
- Increased difficulty in understanding complex information about medications for those whose first language is not English.
- Use of alternative treatments that may impact on the efficacy of prescribed medications.
- Variations in the way that medicine may be metabolised.
MIMs online allows you to enter the list of medications that the patient is on and check for potential interactions. (Note: eMIMS subscription required)
Pharmacogenetics Knowledge Base
PharmGKB is a comprehensive online resource for clinicians and researchers that provides access to information about the impact of genetic variation on drug response.
Information for patients about medications
The following sites provide multilingual information about medications aimed at patients.
Consumer Medication Brochures
These brochures have been developed by TMHC for patients. They contain information about specific types of medications to treat mental health disorders and illnesses. The brochures give a detailed explanation of the medicines, how they work, side effects, how they should be used and where to seek help if needed.
Multicultural Health Communication Service - Medication management
This page provides brochures and leaflets to information about a range of medicines in multiple languages.
Multilingual Webster-pak
The Webster-pak is a pharmacy medication filled blister pack. Times of day and days of the week are printed in any one of 20 different languages on the pak. Medication information is printed in English for pharmacy checks, emergency services and carers.
National Prescribing Service (NPS) MedicineWise
NPS MedicineWise has produced translated resources about taking medicines for communities speaking a range of languages. These include Arabic, simplified and traditional Chinese, Croatian, French, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Macedonian, Spanish, Vietnamese.
Further Reading
