An echo to Choosing Wisely® in Switzerland

International Journal of General Medicine
Lionel ChokEsther B Bachli

Abstract

Inspired by the US Choosing Wisely®, in 2016 the Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine released a list of five treatments or diagnostic tests used in the hospital and considered unnecessary based on not improving patient care and adding to health care costs. These "Smarter Medicine" recommendations were implemented in the Department of Internal Medicine, Uster Hospital, in August 2016. They were supported by lectures and weekly email communications. We analyzed the number of blood draws before and after implementation of the recommendation aimed at reducing blood tests. This retrospective analysis was conducted in the Department of Internal Medicine, Uster Hospital, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Patients hospitalized in the 3 months before and after implementation were analyzed. A total of 2023 hospitalizations were analyzed. There was a significant decrease in the number of blood draws after introduction of the recommendation: before implementation, the median number of blood draws per patient was 4 (interquartile range [IQR], 2-7); after implementation, the median was 4 (IQR, 2-6; P = 0.002). Indeed, since 46% of the patients in the first group had more than four blood tests, this ratio decreased to 39% after implementa...Continue Reading

Methods Mentioned

BETA
blood draws
blood drawn
blood draw

Software Mentioned

SPSS
Microsoft Office

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