Brisbane North PHN partners with Quality Use of Medicines Alliance

In July 2025, Brisbane North PHN partnered with the Quality Use of Medicines Alliance (QUM Alliance) – an independent consortium of health sector organisations that brings together expertise in medicines use, education, research, professional bodies, and consumer groups. This partnership is scheduled to run until June 2027.

Founded in January 2023 and funded by the Australian Government under the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology (QUDTP) grant, the QUM Alliance addresses national health priorities through health professional education and consumer health literacy, supporting safe and informed decisions about medicines and diagnostic tests.

Medcast, the lead health professional organisation in the QUM Alliance, aims to improve healthcare delivery by providing evidence-based education and clinical upskilling programs to a range of health professionals and healthcare organisations, using collaborative online and face-to-face technology solutions.

Brisbane North PHN has appointed a Lead Project Pharmacist and Clinical Educator to deliver activities under the QUDTP program in partnership with the QUM Alliance. The Project Pharmacist supports engagement with general practices and First Nations health services, delivers primary care education via educational visits, and facilitates systems integration and collaboration opportunities.

Upskill with Brisbane North PHN and Medcast

Educational visits are free, 60-minute, whole of practice, interactive learning sessions that are:

• tailored to your practice’s needs, delivered on-site or virtually
• facilitated by an independent clinical educator at a time that suits you
• accredited for Reviewing Performance CPD hours
• designed to upskill clinical teams in key therapeutic areas.

Programs developed under the QUDTP grant include eczema, gout, antidepressants in older adults, and oral anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation.

Additional funding has been provided to support five new topics:

• navigating mental health in young people
• menopause
• secondary stroke prevention
• post-fracture osteoporosis
• complex multimorbidity in older adults.

Each program includes resources and tools co-designed by specialists, GPs, pharmacists, nurses and consumers, accessible via Medcast QHUB.

Current programs

Brisbane North in partnership with Medcast is delivering the Oral Anticoagulants for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation program, which provides the latest evidence and practical guidance for safe and effective stroke prevention in patients. The highly anticipated Navigating Mental Health in Young People program is launching later this month, with further information to come.

To request an educational visit or find out more, contact your local PHN Clinical Educator Angela Smith via phone on 07 3490 3485 or by contacting us.