Campaign reveals lists of procedures, treatments doctors should avoid
No more automatic annual blood tests; no more automatic imaging for lower-back pain; and no more pap tests for women under 21 and over 69.
Canadian doctors are being asked to cut back on these and 37 other tests, procedures and treatments as part of a national campaign aimed at rooting out unnecessary interventions.
The Choosing Wisely Canada campaign kicked off in Ottawa on Wednesday morning with the release of lists from nine national medical organization and specialty groups of interventions that doctors and their patients are being urged to think twice about.
Unnecessary imaging could needlessly expose patients to radiation. Unnecessary procedures could lead to further interventions that can be invasive and possible cause patient’s side effects. As well, these tests and procedures take time and drain resources.
The campaign is aimed at starting a dialogue between doctors and their patients and ultimately changing the “more is always better” culture.
“It’s time for physicians and patients to have some frank and healthy conversations about the overuse of tests, treatments and procedures,” said Dr. Wendy Levinson , founder of Choosing Wisely Canada and chair of the department of medicine at the University of Toronto.
The College of Family Physicians of Canada offered up a list of five unnecessary interventions that includes annual automatic blood tests. The advice is not to do routine blood tests in asymptomatic patients.
“This practice is more likely to produce false positive results that may lead to additional unnecessary testing,” reasons the college.
It also advises against x-rays, CT scans and MRIs for lower back pain unless red flags are present, for example severe or neurological deficits.
Canada’s Choosing Wisely campaign is modelled after an American one of the same name.
“As in every field of medicine there are certain medial tests treatments and procedures in specialty fields that physicians and patients should question,” said Dr. Chris Simpson, president elect of the Canadian Medical Association, which is a lead partner in the campaign.
