More is not always better when it comes to healthcare

On behalf of NPS MedicineWise, Choosing Wisely Australia invites you to our 2021 National Meeting to be held virtually on 19 May 2021.

Choosing Wisely Week is an opportunity to promote projects being implemented by Choosing Wisely members and support 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 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’.

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 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.

Debra Letica never expected to become a carer during her lifetime, but it was the most natural thing to do. She now uses and promotes Choosing Wisely personally and as a consumer advocate in the health system.

In our first Choosing Wisely project, The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) aimed to reduce low-value care in bronchiolitis, a viral chest infection which leads to the highest number of hospital admissions in infants during winter.

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.

Dr Deb Harley is a general practitioner in a large Geelong practice and is a keen supporter of the Choosing Wisely initiative. Read about how she implements Choosing Wisely at her practice and encourages her patients to have important conversations about their health