On April 15 and 16, Choosing Wisely Canada marked a significant milestone—celebrating its tenth anniversary. Set against the vibrant backdrop of downtown Montreal, Quebec, the two-day event, held in collaboration with the Canadian Medical Association, brought together over 280 participants from across the country alongside those who joined our virtual livestreams.

The opening plenary, led by co-founders Dr. Wendy Levinson and Tai Huynh, offered a thoughtful reflection on the past ten years of Choosing Wisely Canada. While acknowledging the progress made to date, they emphasized the need to demonstrate the impact of Choosing Wisely initiatives to make measurable change in Canadian health systems. Attendees left the session with insights into Choosing Wisely Canada’s evolving areas of focus, including appropriateness benchmarking for medication use in long-term care and mitigating environmental harm.

Between plenaries, attendees had the opportunity to network and participate in concurrent sessions in English and French. Discussions on timely topics such as low-value labs, artificial intelligence, and blood stewardship fostered a lively exchange of ideas. Concurrent sessions also showcased selected workshops and abstracts, highlighting Choosing Wisely initiatives from across the country. Explore the 2024 Abstract Book for a look at recent innovations and initiatives spanning quality improvement, patient engagement, medical education, and more.

Dr. Jerome Leis, co-author of the Lose the Tube toolkit

Throughout the two days, attendees had the chance to win Choosing Wisely Canada “greatest hits” t-shirts featuring some of our favourite campaign slogans over the past decade, such as “Bye Bye PPI” and the iconic “More is Not Always Better Hot Dog” poster. Participants could also leave a message for Choosing Wisely Canada with our video guestbook. Take a look at our clips from attendees at the meeting:

Day one ended in an energetic networking event featuring the inaugural Choosing Wisely Awards. Dr. William Silverstein received the Future Leader in Choosing Wisely Award for his dedication to resource stewardship through medical education and featured publications on addressing low-value care. Dr. AbdulRazaq Sokoro from Shared Health in Manitoba was honoured with the Clinician Excellence in Choosing Wisely Award for his outstanding contributions and leadership in diagnostic care improvements. Quality of Care NL received the Organizational Leadership in Choosing Wisely Award, recognizing their role in driving change at the system level to enhance quality care and safety. Read more about our recent award recipients.

Dr. Wendy Levinson with award recipients Dr. William Silverstein, Krista Mahoney and Brian Johnston, and Dr. AbdulRazaq Sokoro

Day two of the National Meeting kicked off with recognition of Choosing Wisely Canada’s Hospital designation program, honouring Leadership Status and Quality Improvement Status hospitals in Canada. Following the remarks, the meeting opened with an expert panel on Medication Appropriateness in Canada. Drs. Emily McDonald from McGill, Barbara Farrell from Bruyère Research Institute, and John Hirdes from the University of Waterloo, discussed how Canada’s fragmented system can often lead to multiple medication prescriptions within hospital, primary, and long-term care settings. The discussion ended with closing remarks on the need for better evaluation, implementation, and collaboration among interprofessional teams to address this significant overuse issue.

Dr. Mohammad Refaei, Niagara Health, Genny Ng and Dr. William Silverstein, Sunnybrook Health Sciences, Krista Mahoney, NL Health Services, Dr. Sandip SenGupta and Dr. Geneviève Digby, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, and Dr. Bharat Paul, William Osler Health System

The afternoon session, Choosing Wisely for Health on the Grand Scale, sparked profound reflections on Canada’s current health care landscape and the challenges in access to essential care services. Dr. Philpott’s compelling keynote address underscored the crucial need to improve health care delivery, particularly in primary care, to shape a better system for Canadians.

Dr. Jane Philpott, signing her new book Health for All

Choosing Wisely Canada’s tenth anniversary reflected the dedicated community of clinicians, patients, researchers, and health system partners that made this milestone possible. Choosing Wisely Canada extends a sincere thank you to our National Meeting planning committee, staff, presenters, and attendees. Special thanks are also extended to the Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Healthcare Excellence Canada, and Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network for their generous support of this year’s event.