More is not always better when it comes to healthcare

Blood tests ordered that do not provide information that change treatment or patient outcomes are unnecessary, bring inconvenience for patients, increase medical staff workload, and add extra costs. As part of their Choosing Wisely work, Shellharbour Hospital has introduced an education program to support junior medical officers (JMOs) choosing blood tests wisely.

Blood cultures are used to detect blood stream bacterial infections and are essential to tailor antibiotic therapy. However, repeated blood cultures for a patient who is stable, has already had blood cultures taken and antibiotics started, are unlikely to change treatment or diagnosis. Therefore, to reduce waste, and patient discomfort, take blood cultures wisely.

A guide to managing pain and opioid medicines for children, young people and their parents

Chronic wounds represent a significant burden to patients and the healthcare system, and can result in significant functional impairment, reduction in quality of life and large financial costs (around 2% of total health expenditure in Australia). The Choosing Wound Care Wisely project from Mackay Hospital and Health Service (Mackay HHS) in Queensland is about ensuring wound treatment is appropriate to the cause and condition of a wound, maximising clinical effectiveness, reducing patient risk, minimising cost and facilitating patient choice where possible.

Opioids continue to be the primary drug associated with drug-related deaths in Australia with prescription opioids constituting the majority of unintentional deaths due to opioids since 2004. The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service has applied a Choosing Wisely approach in the Emergency Department to address the problem.

Encouraging health consumers to initiate conversations about their health care can start by building a culture where it is comfortable to ask questions. Choosing Wisely research has found that giving health consumers permission to ask questions is an important place to start. We’ve developed some resources for health services to demonstrate their health professionals are ready to listen.

The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside, Queensland is one of the newest Choosing Wisely Champion Health Services. Jessica Toleman, Senior Director of Clinical Operations tells the story of embedding Choosing Wisely into the organisation during COVID-19, making Choosing Wisely ‘the way we do things around here’.

Choosing Wisely Week is an opportunity to promote projects being implemented by Choosing Wisely members and supports the reduction of unnecessary tests, treatments and procedures. We have developed a toolkit to assist members and supporters, particularly Champion Health Services, to promote local projects.

The PROV-ED (PROmoting Value-based care in EDs) project disseminates value-based emergency department (ED) initiatives to public hospital clinicians using display monitors in clinical areas of EDs across Queensland.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded new, integrated and innovative approaches to the way healthcare is delivered. Telehealth options have been part of the solution to ensure patients continue to access the care they need in a timely, safe and convenient way. For some areas of medicine, patients may have reservations about if they will get the same level of care. Empowering health consumers to continue to ask questions in the virtual environment is important to ensure they get the right healthcare for them.

The Choosing Wisely principles have been a pillar during Australia’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Our health system has come together for a common goal and purpose to manage the pandemic. Health professionals have had to be stewards of our finite health resources. Multidisciplinary teams have united to adopt an evidence-based, patient-centred approach. As a result, our health system has adapted in ways and with urgency unseen before. To assist clinicians and consumers to access reliable information about the pandemic we’ve developed specific pandemic guidance, which is based on current evidence and will continue to be update as evidence evolves over time.

With the prescribing rates of opioids in Australia continuing to rise, the team from the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Western Australia have developed a new guideline and discharge form to support best-practice Choosing Wisely principles in opioid prescribing.