The term Quality use of medicines is used by the Australian government as part of their policies on effective and correct uses of medicine and access to appropriate medicines.

Guiding Principles

Quality Use of Medicines (abbreviated to QUM) is one of the four policy pillars in the Australian Government’s National Medicines Policy first developed in 2000, and involves the safe and judicious use of medicines by the general public. In the documentation of the National Medicines Policy, the four tenets of Quality Use of Medicines involve medicines being used:

• Judiciously, using medicines only after considering all other options
• Appropriately, choosing a medicine after appraisal of factors including risk-benefit analysis, treatment length and cost
• Safely, minimising misuse and abuse
• Efficaciously, having a quantifiable benefit to the patient’s health and/or quality of life

Quality Use of Medicines is primarily a patient-oriented movement, with the documentation stressing the importance of patient-professional communication along with patient knowledge and understanding their medicines. The term has begun to enter consumer-oriented Australian media in both journalistic and corporate contexts, while the concepts are becoming increasingly central to general pharmaceutical practice.