Media releases

Choosing Wisely Australia and COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, stewardship of finite healthcare resources — a core focus of the Choosing Wisely Australia® initiative — has never been so important

05 May 2020


During the COVID-19 pandemic, stewardship of finite healthcare resources — a core focus of the Choosing Wisely Australia® initiative — has never been so important.

We encourage consumers, health professionals and health services to continue to reduce unnecessary healthcare by having important conversations about what care is absolutely necessary and important.

Especially during this uncertain time, we encourage people to choose health care that is:

  • supported by evidence
  • not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received
  • free from harm
  • truly necessary.

Relevant recommendations during this pandemic

We are working with the Choosing Wisely Australia colleges, societies and associations to compile a list of existing Choosing Wisely recommendations that are particularly pertinent during this pandemic.

This list will help give direction to clinicians and consumers when making health care decisions during this time.

Evidence-based information

There is a plethora of information available on COVID-19 (coronavirus) to help you make decisions about healthcare and support conversations.

The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce living resource provides guidance and recommendations as evidence changes or emerges.

NPS MedicineWise, facilitator of Choosing Wisely Australia, is a not-for-profit organisation that provides independent, evidence-based information about medicines. The COVID-19 information hub by NPS MedicineWise has information about medicines, tests and treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. This information hub is regularly updated with articles and links to other reliable information for consumers and for health professionals.

Keep asking questions

Some tests, treatments and procedures provide little benefit. And in some cases, they may even cause harm.

Even though the healthcare system is under pressure during this pandemic, with so much uncertainty and ever evolving information it’s important we continue to encourage conversations between healthcare professionals and consumers.

Our ‘5 questions to ask your doctor or other healthcare provider before you get any test, treatment, or procedure’ is an excellent resource to prompt conversations between consumers and health professionals.

More media releases

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