Media releases

Choosing Wisely Update - July 2019

Read about our National Meeting, new resources, new members and Be Medicinewise Week.

Conversations from the 2019 Choosing Wisely Australia National Meeting

2019

Creating better habits around waste management and engaging Australia in a campaign to limit the impact of unnecessary waste on our environment was central to the ABC’s highly successful War on Waste series. So how might we apply some of the key learnings of this campaign to reducing unnecessary healthcare in Australia?

War on Waste writer and presenter, and comedian, Craig Reucassel joined the 2019 Choosing Wisely Australia National Meeting as Master of Ceremonies. He facilitated an informative and interactive day of presentations and panel discussions for more than 230 delegates. He also shared his insights on behaviour change and how they might be applied to Choosing Wisely.

As did keynote speaker Professor Trish Greenhalgh - Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. Prof Greenhalgh presented on the challenges of behavioural change from the perspectives of implementation science, complexity science and social science. While taking delegates through the theory, she urged the audience to keep telling stories.

Referring to posters presented at the National Meeting, Prof Greenhalgh said she’d seen some of the interesting posters about Choosing Wisely projects being undertaken in Australia, but some of them told only the “bare bones of a story”.

“I would love to read 20 pages of richly described detail on what’s actually going on with the projects you’re involved in,” she said. “If there’s one message I want to get across, is tell that story in depth and detail, because otherwise we’re never going to learn from it.” See the presentation

Health services implementation

Opportunities for scaling and sustaining Choosing Wisely Australia were featured throughout the day, including key learnings from health service members. The event showcased the progress and achievements of health services participating in the 2018 Better Care Victoria Scaling Collaboration – supported by Safer Care Victoria and NPS MedicineWise. This approach could be adopted as the model for a nationwide scale-up of the initiative.

Victoria is the first state to fund the expansion of Choosing Wisely Australia across its hospital network, with other states and territories watching with interest. The full results of an independent evaluation are expected by September. Read the media release

Best student abstract

An award for best student abstract was presented by Prof Trish Greenhalgh to Dr Jonathan Kaufman - a PhD student in the University of Melbourne’s Department of General Practice. The annual award recognises an outstanding contribution to Choosing Wisely by a student of a health profession.

Watch Dr Kaufman as he outlines his ‘Yes Wee Can’ project, which looked at how urine sample collection in young pre-continent children could be improved by using a novel method in primary care.

Lightning presentations

A series of nine lightning talks were presented during the National Meeting covering topics including early implementation approaches, consumer engagement, opioids management, colonoscopies, radiotherapy and taking urine samples from children. These presentations and a gallery of photos from the event are now available on the Choosing Wisely Australia website

Read the full report on the day’s activities from the Croakey Conference News Service.

Conversation starter kit

Kit

NPS MedicineWise and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia have delivered a new resource for individuals and organisations promoting better health outcomes for consumers.

The Conversation Starter Kit brings together a range of new and existing Choosing Wisely Australia resources for consumer health advocates to raise awareness of the initiative among their networks and to encourage participation – a new offering in their promotion of patient-centred care.

The kit is available as on online pdf with introductory guide and links to a short presentation, key messages, social media guide and an evaluation form. It also includes a new video encouraging consumers to ask their healthcare providers questions about the tests, treatments and procedures recommended to them.

Health services implementation toolkit

A new Implementation Toolkit has been developed by NPS MedicineWise in collaboration with Safer Care Victoria – showcasing case studies and resources for health services seeking to implement Choosing Wisely projects at their organisations.

New oncology recommendations

Moga

Five new recommendations to address low-value practices in oncology developed by the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA) have been released under the Royal Australasian College of Physicians' Evolve initiative and Choosing Wisely Australia.

The new advice from MOGA includes a warning against the overuse of chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer, urging doctors to instead prioritise symptom relief and palliative care. Read the media release

Welcome to our newest members

Choosing Wisely Australia welcomes three new health professional colleges to its membership, the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, Australian College of Nurse Practitioners and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

They’re joined by three new Champion Health Services - Armadale Kalamunda Group in Western Australia and Swan Hill District Health in Victoria and Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service in Queensland.

We are also pleased to welcome Health Consumers NSW on board as we seek to grow our consumer-focused networks across Australia.

Recognise a champion!

Don’t forget to recognise your colleagues for championing Choosing Wisely in your organisation. Using an awards recognition program is a great way to acknowledge the efforts of individuals and teams who are leading the way in effecting a culture shift in how we think about healthcare delivery. Find out more

Be Medicinewise Week

Bmw

This year’s Be Medicinewise Week, hosted by NPS MedicineWise from 19–25 August, is about getting to know the language of medicines. Find out more

Stewardship toolkit for clinical educators

The Health Resource Stewardship for Clinical educators contains educational material about the Choosing Wisely initiative for use in universities, hospitals and health professional colleges

More details

5 Questions

5 questions to ask your doctor or other healthcare provider to make sure you end up with the right amount of care.

Find out more