The New Zealand Universal List of Medicines (NZULM) provides practical and commonly used information about medicines, in one place. It is being released for an evaluation period after which it will be released for general use. Until general release it should be not for clinical purposes.
The NZULM is essentially a dictionary of authoritative and standardised information about medicines covering registrable medicines approved for supply in New Zealand and any products listed in the Pharmaceutical Schedule which fall outside of this category. It also includes medicines imported under Section 29 of the Medicines Act.
It is free to use and can be accessed through this application or the nzulm.org.nz website.
At its heart is the Medicines Terminology (NZMT) in which medicines are described and coded using international standards. It forms the common language and is the foundation upon which other information is attached.
Contents
The NZULM information includes:
* Generic medicine name with cross-referencing to the brands of that medicine along with information on strength, form (e.g. tablets, lotion eye drops etc), and pack size (from the New Zealand Medicines Terminology)
* Sponsor, legal classification, approved datasheet and consumer medicine information for a medicine (from Medsafe)
* Subsidy information, if any (from PHARMAC)
NZULM information is continuously updated under strict quality assurance processes. This application will be updated on a frequent basis, please download updates as they become available.
Please note this application is a window into the information available in NZULM. It is not a prescribing or dispensing tool.
If you are a provider of prescribing, dispensing or clinical information systems you should need to spend a lot less time gathering medicines information and putting it into a format that will work with your system.
The NZULM is an important foundation for medicines safety, ePharmacy initiatives, the establishment of a NZ Product Catalogue for Medicines (and Devices) and the establishment of a NZ Medicine Formulary for decision support.