Breastfeeding questions to medicines call centres from the Australian public and health professionals
Amelia Stephens A E , Wendy Brodribb A , Treasure McGuire B C D and Laura Deckx AA Primary Care Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Health Sciences Building 16/910, Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Qld 4029, Australia.
B Mater Pharmacy Services, Mater Health Services, Brisbane, Qld 4101, Australia.
C School of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, Qld 4102, Australia.
D Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Qld 4229, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: a.stephens@uq.edu.au
Australian Journal of Primary Health 24(5) 409-416 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY18010
Submitted: 22 January 2018 Accepted: 24 April 2018 Published: 8 August 2018
Abstract
There is considerable uncertainty regarding medication use during breastfeeding. This study compared lactation-related questions about medicines from consumers and health professionals to identify knowledge gaps. A retrospective, mixed-methods study of lactation-related call data extracted from two Australian medicines call centre databases: National Prescribing Service (NPS) Medicines Line (ML) for the general public and Therapeutic Advice and Information Service (TAIS) for health professionals, was conducted. Of the 5662 lactation-related calls by consumers to ML, most were from women enquiring about themselves (95%). The 2219 lactation-related calls from health professionals to TAIS were largely from GPs (46%), community pharmacists (35%) and nurses (12%). Consumers commonly enquired about medicines freely accessible or over-the-counter, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory products (9.3%), paracetamol (6.9%), ibuprofen (4.8%) and codeine (4.2%). Health professionals’ questions involved prescription medicines such as antidepressants (16.9%), with queries on sertraline (3.7%), levonorgestrel (2.7%) and domperidone (2.4%) most common. Question themes were similar for both cohorts, focusing mainly around medication safety, risk minimisation and milk supply. Understanding the compelling and common themes driving medicines help-seeking related to breastfeeding is key to addressing information gaps and improving overall medication use during breastfeeding.
Additional keywords: consumers, drugs, health professionals, help-seeking, lactation.
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