The Royal Australasian College of Physicians President, Professor Nicholas Talley

Choosing Wisely Australia launch: Professor Nicholas Talley

Professor Nicholas Talley:

The College of Physicians is delighted to be a founding partner with Choosing Wisely in this initiative. This is an opportunity for us to ensure that over testing, for example, which doesn't benefit patients, is costly to society, and actually can lead to some outcomes that in fact are negative, that's the sort of activity that will be reduced.

It's interesting, sometimes more is less. And this is part of this campaign's activity. Really the experts need to identify what the problematic areas are and the experts need to identify what changes are required to ensure best practise is delivered.

We understand how important it is that we identify low-value, high-cost activities, and that we actually change our practises and behaviours so those activities are reduced, which will benefit all. It will benefit the patients undergoing medical care, it will benefit the community, and it will benefit the profession as well.
So this is an excellent initiative, it's an initiative that the college is passionate about and will continue to engage in.