Choosing Wisely Through Primary Care

New toolkit – Time to Talk: Encouraging serious illness conversations

Choosing Wisely Canada is proud to partner with over 30 national clinician societies on a recommendation to encourage serious illness conversations. The recommendation, released on March 10, 2021, underscores the importance of earlier and better conversations about values, goals, and wishes to ensure patients receive the care they want, feel less distress, and avoid tests or treatments that are potentially harmful.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada supports the following recommendation and encourages our members to have these important conversations:

Don’t offer tests or treatments without establishing your patient’s prognosis, preferences, and goals of care. Potentially harmful or overly aggressive tests or treatments can be avoided by having discussions about goals and wishes, and documenting this information.

Early conversations about disease understanding, wishes and goals with patients who have serious or progressive chronic illness can avoid potentially harmful tests or treatments. Ensuring patients discuss and document wishes and goals, as well as identify a substitute decision maker can support evidenceinformed and patient centred care.

How you can get these conversations started:

Choosing Wisely Canada has developed tools and resources to help get these conversations started. You
can download below:

• Serious Illness Conversation Guide
• Four Questions to Ask Your Patients (For Clinicians)
• Patient Pamphlet – Time to Talk
• Four Questions to Ask Your Health Care Providers (For Patients)

Interested in presenting on serious illness conversations? Download the Time to Talk presentation template:

• Time to Talk – Presentation Slides

To learn more about these efforts, visit Choosing Wisely Canada’s website: www.ChoosingWiselyCanada.org/Serious-Illness-Conversations.
 

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Using Antibiotics Wisely

The Cold Standard 2.0 – A Toolkit for Using Antibiotics Wisely for the Management of Respiratory Tract Infections in Primary Care.

• The Cold Standard 2.0

Using Antibiotics Wisely in Long Term Care poster and practice statements aim to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use for asymptomatic bacteriuria in LTC.

• Reflect before you collect poster
• UTI Practice Statements

In response to members’ feedback, selected Using Antibiotics Wisely patient resources are now available in Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish. Select a link below to download a PDF resource.

Antibiotics: Sorry

• Antibiotics: Sorry (English)
• Antibiotics: Sorry (Simplified Chinese)
• Antibiotics: Sorry (Punjabi)
• Antibiotics: Sorry (Spanish)

Antibiotics: Three questions to ask your health care provider

• Antibiotics: Three questions to ask your health care provider (English)
• Antibiotics: Three questions to ask your health care provider (Simplified Chinese)
• Antibiotics: Three questions to ask your health care provider (Punjabi)
• Antibiotics: Three questions to ask your health care provider (Spanish)

Antibiotics: Delayed prescription

• Antibiotics: Delayed prescription (English)
• Antibiotics: Delayed prescription (Simplified Chinese)
• Antibiotics: Delayed prescription (Punjabi)
• Antibiotics: Delayed prescription (Spanish)

Disclaimer
The translation of selected Using Antibiotics Wisely patient resources into languages other than English and French represents a pilot initiative of the CFPC. The CFPC has attempted to ensure the original materials in English have been translated accurately; in the event that there is any inconsistency between the English and other translated versions, the English version shall prevail.

• Antibiotics: Rx Files – Viral Infection Prescription

You can also integrate the Viral Prescription Pad and Delayed Prescription Pad in your existing EMR. The e-forms and accompanying instructions were co-developed by OntarioMD and Choosing Wisely Canada in collaboration. For any questions related to these materials, please contact [email protected].

• Key Practice Statements

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Multimedia Tool Kits

The College of Family Physicians (CFPC)/Choosing Wisely Canada multimedia-friendly tool kit equips health care providers with user-friendly videos, printable posters for their clinics, and printable infographics designed to facilitate informed discussions and give patients resources they can take home.

• Using Antibiotics Wisely
• Opioid Wisely
• Do More Screening Tests Lead to Better Health?

Mainpro+®

Using a Linking Learning to Practice exercise to document how a tool has had an impact on your practice can earn you five Mainpro+ certified credits! There is no maximum on the number of exercises you can submit. Visit Linking Learning to learn more.

Opioid Wisely

• Opioid Wisely office poster
• Updated family medicine recommendations: Thirteen Things Physicians and Patients Should Question (opioid-specific recommendations)

For additional information please visit our project website.

Do More Screening Tests Lead to Better Health?

Whiteboard video

This 10-minute educational video focuses on a number of common screening tests (vitamin D malabsorption, mammography, thyroid testing, etc.) to help inform dialogue between family physicians and their patients on appropriate testing.

• Rethinking the annual physical exam and screening tests
• Is more testing better? Six tests to rethink
• Combined Infographics

Questions?

Please contact us at [email protected].