Choosing Wisely NL
Choosing Wisely Newfoundland and Labrador is the provincial campaign of Choosing Wisely Canada – the national voice for reducing unnecessary tests and treatments in Canada.
Unnecessary tests and treatments expose patients to potential harm, consume precious health care resources, and contribute to the climate crisis.
The Choosing Wisely NL campaign is run by Quality of Care NL and has been working to promote Choosing Wisely recommendations and support the health care system to implement change since 2016.
All inquiries relating to Choosing Wisely NL can be directed to Krista Mahoney, Provincial Choosing Wisely Coordinator – kmahoney@mun.ca.
Areas of Focus
Choosing Wisely NL change strategies include clinician education, patient education, and audit and feedback. Areas of focus include:
- Antimicrobial stewardship (antimicrobial resistance awareness)
- Pre-operative testing
- Environmental sustainability of the health care system
- Reducing use of urinary catheters
- Antipsychotic use
- Benzodiazepine use
- Biomedical testing
- Imaging for low back pain
- Reducing use of desflurane, an environmentally harmful anesthetic gas
Several hospital sites in NL are actively implementing Choosing Wisely principles, including the Health Sciences Centre which is a Choosing Wisely Canada Designated Hospital!
