Good Medicine Better Health: Quality use of medicines (QUM) foundation

On completion of this module you should be able to:

Module 1 – QUM principles

• describe how quality use of medicines (QUM) promotes good health and raises awareness, knowledge and skills of consumers and the community
• explain what the active ingredient of a medicine is and where to find the active ingredient on medicine labels and packaging
• describe situations where medicines might be contraindicated
• list common medicine side effects and explain to clients the signs and symptoms to look out for.

Module 2 – Putting QUM into action

• describe how to improve the safe use of medicines
• explain the different parts of medicine labels for prescription-only medicines and pharmacy medicines
• describe how best to store medicines, including when travelling
• explain what to do with unwanted, unused or out-of-date medicines.