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National Indicators for Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) in Australian Hospitals

The National Indicators for Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) in Australian Hospitals 2014 support measurement of safety and quality of medicines use for quality improvement purposes, and to help health services to drive changes in healthcare practice. The indicators have been designed for local use.

Development of the national QUM indicators 2014

The Commission engaged the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group to revise the Indicators for Quality Use of Medicines in Australian Hospitals 2007 and develop new indicators for mental health and continuity of care. The revised indicators include:

  • 30 revised indicators from 2007 QUM indicator set
  • 2 indicators to measure the accuracy of medicines information communicated at discharge from hospital
  • 5 indicators for acute mental health services.

QUM resources

Hospital QUM indicator set

The indicator set is accompanied by data collection tools for each indicator, enabling local results reporting and review.

All the indicators have been mapped to the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

The QUM indicators can be downloaded as a set or as individual indicators.


QUM data collection tools

The data collection tools and user guide are available from the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group.

Find more in our resource library
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