Medication safety

The Department of Health oversees a range of strategies to reduce the risk of patient harm from medication-related incidents. These include providing support and expert medication safety advice to public and private health providers and developing and issuing patient safety notifications, fact sheets, practice guidelines, forms and charts.

Guidelines

• Aminoglycoside dosing in adults guideline (PDF 1891 kB)
  • Aminoglycoside dosing and monitoring guideline – Overview (PDF 375 kB)
• Anticoagulant for hospitalised adult patients (PDF 2478 kB)
  • Anticoagulants for hospitalised adult patients – Quick reference guide (PDF 274 kB)
  • Appendix 1: Direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) drug interactions (PDF 97 kB)
  • Appendix 2: Warfarin drug interactions (PDF 153 kB)
  • Appendix 3: Private pathology warfarin care programs (PDF 101 kB)
• Electrolyte disturbances in adults – prescribing guidelines
• Heparin-induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT) management guidelines for adult patients (PDF 422 kB)
• Intravenous fluids – Prescribing for adults (PDF 364 kB)
• Iron polymaltose slow intravenous infusion guideline (PDF 255 kB)
• Medicines/pharmaceuticals of animal origin (PDF 2262 kB)
• Paracetamol – Guideline for safe paracetamol use (PDF 464 kB)
• Venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention guideline for adult hospitalised patients (PDF 617 kB)
  • Acute stroke – VTE prophylaxis (PDF 320 kB) - updated November 2025
  • Bariatric surgery – VTE prophylaxis recommendations (PDF 101 kB) - updated April 2025
  • VTE guideline overview (PDF 52 kB) (poster style)
  • VTE risk assessment tool - adults (PDF 2485 kB) (if issues are experienced accessing this tool please read help viewing and downloading PDF documents)
  • Padua Prediction Score for Risk of VTE in Medical Patients (PDF 297 kB)
  • Caprini Prediction Score for Risk of VTE in Surgical Patients (PDF 307 kB)
• Warfarin – Community management guidelines (PDF 473 kB)

Resources

• Consumer brochure: Your medicines in hospital, let’s get it right together (PDF 1069 kB)

Fact sheets

• Discontinuation of Protaphane® InnoLet® and other insulin products (PDF 148 kB) (19 December 2024)
• Constrained supply of morphine oral liquid (PDF 776 kB) (17 July 2024)
• Reports of belladonna toxicity from colic preparation (PDF 157 kB) (3 June 2024)
• 2024 Update to the Guideline for Warfarin Management in the Community (PDF 134 kB) (23 April 2024)
• Benzathine benzylpenicillin is not ‘BenPen’ (PDF 320 kB) (22 January 2024)

Contact

Medication Safety
Email: MedicationSafety@health.qld.gov.au