UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE
ADHD care, in plain English
Understand common words used in appointments, medicine information and Australian prescribing guidance.
Terminology draft. Clinical and prescribing definitions await human review; confirm how each term applies to your care.
- Active ingredient
- The substance responsible for a medicine’s effect. Different brands can contain the same ingredient; the formulation can still differ.
- Brand name
- The product name on the pack. Use both the ingredient and brand when asking a pharmacist about a medicine.
- Formulation
- How a medicine is prepared and releases its ingredient, such as a tablet, capsule or modified-release product. Check the exact product with your pharmacist.
- Immediate release / modified release
- Terms describing how a medicine releases its ingredient. They do not establish that two products can be substituted or taken in the same way.
- Consumer Medicine Information (CMI)
- The leaflet for a specific medicine, including its uses, warnings, interactions and side effects. Read the leaflet for your own product.
- Prescribing approval
- Permission required under the relevant state or territory’s rules. Its scope depends on the practitioner, medicine and circumstances.
- PBS authority
- An approval relating to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme subsidy where an item requires it. It is separate from state or territory prescribing permission.
- Repeat
- Permission on a prescription for a further supply, subject to the prescription’s conditions. Check timing and validity with the pharmacist.
- Initiation / continuation
- Starting a treatment / continuing an established treatment. A practitioner’s permission for one does not automatically establish permission for the other.
- Shared care
- An agreed division of care between practitioners. Ask who handles prescriptions, changes, monitoring and follow-up.
- Off-label use
- Use outside the medicine’s approved product information, for example for a different age group or condition. Ask the prescriber to explain the reasons, evidence and monitoring.
- Titration
- A prescriber-guided process of adjusting treatment and reviewing its effects. A journal helps the conversation; it cannot determine a dose.