Northern Health recently hosted the ‘Choosing Wisely’ workshop inviting Better Care Victoria, NPS MedicineWise and 11 other hospitals, including metropolitan and rural hospitals.

Choosing Wisely is a global initiative aimed to encourage health professionals and consumers to consider rationally which tests, treatments and procedures are evidence-based and necessary and which are not.

Led by Australian colleges, societies and associations, Choosing Wisely Australia challenges the way we think about healthcare, questioning the notion, ‘more is always better’.

The workshop included a showcase of all projects underway at all health services, where there was a sharing of valuable resources. This provided an opportunity for health services to come together and discuss their achievements and lessons learnt.

Sandy Ayoub, Project Lead, said these workshops are always interesting and reinvigorate everyone.

“There is a sharing of information and resources between the health services, and project teams leave the workshop feeling motivated and keen to apply our new learnings,” she said.

The Choosing Wisely Project Team at Northern Health presented an update on our projects (visit our intranet page to learn more) and invited Consumer Participation Coordinators, Sherrilyn Ballard and Kate Serong, to explain their work in consumer engagement and how important it is for projects such as Choosing Wisely.

The Choosing Wisely Executive Sponsor, Dr Alison Dwyer, also attended the presentation, along with Dr Kristen Pearson, Clinical Lead and Sandy Ayoub, Project Lead.