Choosing Wisely Canada is a campaign to help clinicians and patients engage in conversations about unnecessary tests and treatments and make smart and effective choices to ensure high-quality care.
The list identifies 5 targeted, evidence-based recommendations that can support clinicians and patients in making wise choices about their care and includes:
* Don't start or continue life supporting interventions unless they are consistent with the patient's values and realistic goals of care.
* Don't prolong mechanical ventilation by over-use of sedatives and bed rest.
* Don't continue mechanical ventilation without a daily assessment for the patient's ability to breathe spontaneously.
* Don't order routine chest radiographs for critically ill patients, except to answer a specific clinical question.
* Don't routinely transfuse red blood cells in hemodynamically stable ICU patients with a hemoglobin concentration greater than 70 g/l (a threshold of 80 g/L may be considered for patients undergoing cardiac or orthopedic surgery and those with active cardiovascular disease).
For more information on Choosing Wisely Canada, please visit www.ChoosingWiselyCanada.org. Join the conversation on Twitter @ChooseWiselyCA.