St. Joe's is Choosing Wisely
Pictured above: Dr. Tamar Packer, Quality Lead, Medical Advisory Council and Medical Director, Newborn Care and leader of the St. Joe's is Choosing Wisely initiative
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is an early adopter of Choosing Wisely Canada, a national campaign aimed at encouraging physicians and patients to engage in healthy conversations about their healthcare. When it comes to your health, more medical tests, treatments and procedures are not always better. In fact, sometimes they are unnecessary and could do more harm than good. Choosing Wisely Canada focuses on areas where evidence overwhelmingly shows that a test, treatment or procedure provides little to no benefit to a patient and encourages physicians and patients to have a healthy conversation about the topic.
Over the past few months and moving into the near future, St. Joe's is adopting Choosing Wisely Canada's recommendations that are applicable to the healthcare our hospital provides including, palliative care, kidney and urinary care, imaging testing, preoperative testing and vitamin D testing just to name a few.
"Choosing Wisely Canada provides us with a pragmatic platform to reshape physician and patient choices and expectations," says Dr. Tamar Packer, Quality Lead, Medical Advisory Council and Medical Director, Newborn Care and leader of the St. Joe's is Choosing Wisely initiative. “It encourages a questioning approach which can potentially impact quality of care for our patients and the community as whole.”
St. Joe’s is Choosing Wisely encourages our patients to engage in conversations with their physicians, clinicians and healthcare providers. “Investigations and treatments should only be undertaken if they are both prudent and of value to the patient,” states Dr. Hugh Fuller, Vice President, Medical and Academic Affairs at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. St. Joe’s is committed to ensuring high-quality, compassionate care for our patients and we hope by participating in this initiative St. Joe’s will assist our patients and healthcare providers in making informed, effective choices together.Next time you see your doctor, have a conversation.
Learn how you can become engaged in your healthcare through St. Joe’s is Choosing Wisely.