Common Ground When Choosing Wisely® for Patients

Abstract

Since 2012, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, in collaboration with the National Physicians Alliance and Consumer Reports, have compiled a list of evidence-based statements from approximately 80 organizations to advise clinicians, patients, and their caregivers about optimization of care and avoiding unnecessary medical testing and therapies through the Choosing Wisely® (CW) campaign. Although started in the Unites States, similar initiatives were created across the globe demonstrating and recognizing CW's importance in improving global patient care. Pharmacists are specifically in tune to the use of medications in older people, but they also consider the complexity and holistic view of the patient. In many ways, the goals of the CW initiative mirror those of senior care pharmacy, but in reading through the nearly 740 statements currently published through www.ChoosingWisely.org, the number of overlapping recommendations produced between organizations is striking. Outside of regulations and mandates from federal and state governments, could CW assist interprofessional teams to find additional "common ground" while caring for older people?