Choosing Wisely Update - July 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

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.

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