Wednesday 1 March 2017|
NEW CHAIR APPOINTED TO CHOOSING WISELY AUSTRALIA BOARD
Choosing Wisely Australia has today announced the appointment of Dr Matthew Anstey as its new Advisory Group Chair.
Dr Anstey – an Intensivist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth and current Advisory Group member – will take over the role from Associate Professor Richard King, AM, who has been instrumental in establishing Choosing Wisely in Australia over the last two years.
A long-time supporter of Choosing Wisely, Dr Anstey first observed the initiative during its implementation by the Kaiser Permanente medical group in the United States while undertaking his Commonwealth Fund Harkness health policy fellowship.
Dr Anstey has been a part-time senior medical advisor to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and remains involved in their Atlas of Variation work.
Client Relations Manager for NPS MedicineWise, Dr Robyn Lindner, said momentum continues to build around the Choosing Wisely approach in Australia as a way of eliminating unnecessary and potentially harmful healthcare.
“Almost two years since launching in Australia, we are seeing a strong appetite in the community – among health professionals and healthcare consumers – for better conversations about the appropriate use of tests, treatments and procedures,” Dr Lindner said.
Dr Anstey brings a breadth of experience in clinical service delivery, as well as best practice, stakeholder engagement and their intersections with health policy development. This experience will prove invaluable as Choosing Wisely Australia moves into its next stages.
“We extend our sincere thanks to Associate Professor Richard King for his service. Associate Professor King has been a strong champion of the initiative and his guidance has been valuable in driving engagement across the sector.”
For more information visit choosingwisely.org.au, or email choosingwisely@nps.org.au. Join the conversation on twitter @ChooseWiselyAU, or follow us on Facebook.
About Choosing Wisely Australia:
Choosing Wisely Australia® is enabling clinicians, consumers and healthcare stakeholders to start important conversations about tests, treatments and procedures where evidence shows they provide no benefit and in some cases lead to harm. The campaign is being led by Australia’s medical colleges and societies and is facilitated by NPS MedicineWise.
28 February 2017
CUTTING THROUGH THE COMPLEXITY: NEW PROGRAM ON COPD FROM NPS MEDICINEWISE
NPS MedicineWise is launching a new educational program on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for health professionals. Recognising that COPD can be a complex and challenging condition for health professionals to diagnose and manage, the program will provide an update using a suite of educational products targeting GPs, practice nurses and pharmacists.
The program is focused on three key areas:
- diagnosis of COPD and assessment of severity – including the role of spirometry
- stepwise pharmacological management of COPD
- inhaler technique and adherence
“Providing the best pharmacological treatments for COPD – in order to optimise patients’ symptom control and quality of life – relies on accurate diagnosis and assessing the severity of the disease,” says NPS MedicineWise medical adviser Dr Andrew Boyden.
Spirometry is critically important as part of the clinical assessment in order to accurately diagnose COPD and assess its severity. However evidence indicates that while the rate of spirometry use is growing, it is still underutilised.
Recognising that it can be challenging to distinguish COPD from asthma, the program will provide health professionals with information to assist them in excluding asthma and confirming COPD diagnosis.
The program also addresses a range of newer treatment options. In recent years there has been a plethora of new inhalers for the treatment of COPD released into the Australian market.
“Because of the recent influx of newer COPD medicines and devices, it can be challenging for health professionals to remain up-to-date with developments. This new program, which is based on the Lung Foundation COPD-X guidelines stepwise approach, aims to help GPs understand the range of treatment options now available,” says Dr Boyden.
The program will also highlight the importance of correct inhaler technique and matching the patient with a suitable inhaler device.
“Inhaler technique and adherence are also a focus because studies suggest that many patients don’t use their devices correctly or are not taking their COPD medications as prescribed leading to sub-optimal management of their condition,” adds Dr Boyden.
The NPS MedicineWise COPD educational program includes:
- One-on-one educational visits for GPs or small group case-based meetings (for up to 10 health professionals) with an NPSMedicineWise clinical services specialist. Register your interest now
- Articles in health professional publications such as MedicineWise News, Pharmacy Practice Review, Pharmacist Update and Health News and Evidence
- An online case study (for GPs, pharmacists and nurses)
To find out more about the health professional program, go to http://www.nps.org.au/copd
21 February 2017
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: CHOOSING WISELY AUSTRALIA NATIONAL MEETING
Australia’s health professionals are being invited to submit abstracts for the inaugural Choosing Wisely Australia National Meeting 2017, to be held in Melbourne on Thursday 4 May.
The event will showcase the implementation of the Choosing Wisely Australia initiative across the healthcare sector, and among healthcare consumers, since it launched in April 2015.
The National Meeting will also explore future implementation activities as momentum continues to build around the Choosing Wisely approach – adopted in 17 countries – to improve the safety and quality of healthcare in Australia.
Facilitated by NPS MedicineWise and led by Australia’s health profession, Choosing Wisely aims to eliminate unnecessary, even potentially harmful, tests, treatments and procedures using the latest evidence-based recommendations from Australia’s specialist medical colleges, societies and associations.
Dr Robyn Lindner, Client Relations Manager at NPS MedicineWise, said: “This event is a great opportunity for Choosing Wisely Australia stakeholders to engage in conversations around best practice.
“We are inviting abstracts and submissions of topics for discussion from our member organisations, health professionals, registrars, and consumer and healthcare leaders which highlight learnings in using the
Choosing Wisely approach to improve our healthcare system,” Dr Lindner said.
“In addition we are inviting medical students and junior doctors to submit their ideas. The opportunity to travel to the event free of charge will be gifted to the best submissions in each category.
“This is an excellent chance for the next generation of medical professionals to engage with the work of
Choosing Wisely Australia early in their careers.”
Abstracts should provide examples of:
- Clinician engagement: including medical education, guideline development and health service implementation
- Consumer and patient engagement
- Systems change that is supporting Choosing Wisely Australia
Influence of Choosing Wisely Australia on policy - Measuring the impact of Choosing Wisely.
Submissions should be a maximum of 250 words and are due Friday, 17 March 2017.
Selected abstracts will become oral presentations or posters at the National Meeting.
Abstracts can be submitted via the Choosing Wisely Australia website at: choosingwisely.org.au
Media enquiries: Lyndell Coutts, Communications Lead – Choosing Wisely Australia, 02 8217 8650,
0429 050 103 or lcoutts@nps.org.au