Scarborough Health Network (SHN) has been awarded the Choosing Wisely Canada Hospital Quality Improvement Status—a prestigious national designation recognizing hospitals that demonstrate a strong commitment to reducing unnecessary care and enhancing patient safety. This honour underscores SHN’s dedication to optimizing healthcare resources and delivering high-quality, efficient, and safe patient care.

This achievement was made possible through the leadership and collaboration of the project team: Loretta Lee, Drug Use Evaluation Pharmacist; Denise McRiner, Quality Improvement Facilitator; Dr. Thomas Bodley, Intensivist and Quality Lead for Critical Care; Swasti Bhajan, Director of Pharmacy; and Petra Sheldrake, Director of Laboratory Services.

“SHN is proud to be included as one of the few hospitals across Canada to have received this distinction, which reflects our ongoing commitment to exceptional quality care. Becoming a Choosing Wisely Canada hospital is one of the initiatives in our Strategic Plan 2024-2029, and we have purposefully taken key steps and put in place essential practices as part of our journey to zero harm. This designation signals our meaningful commitment to exceptional services, care, and the patient experience,” said David Graham, President and CEO of SHN.

The Choosing Wisely Canada program involves active engagement from staff to identify processes or areas for improvement within their hospitals. This includes implementing a quality improvement project based on a Choosing Wisely Canada recommendation, as well as participating in one of Choosing Wisely Canada’s national quality improvement programs. Through these efforts and a system of credits, SHN successfully earned five credits—meeting the threshold required to apply for this designation. The three initiatives included:

• Achieving the ‘Using Blood Wisely Hospital’ designation: SHN joined over 270 hospitals nationwide in Choosing Wisely Canada’s Using Blood Wisely program, aimed at reducing inappropriate red blood cell transfusions. SHN earned this designation in July 2023, with sustained improvements since the program’s inception in 2016 (General and Birchmount hospitals) and 2018 (Centenary Hospital).
• Participating in the ‘Using Labs Wisely’ consortium: Using Labs Wisely is the national consortium of hospitals committed to improving patient care by reducing unnecessary low-value lab testing. The initiative fosters a national laboratory community that contributes to system wide change. SHN participated in the 2024–2025 cohort and received a one-year participation certificate in May 2025. As part of this effort,  Tom Bodley is leading SHN’s “Pause the Draw”  initiative in critical care, which focuses on minimizing unnecessary blood tests in SHN’s intensive care units under the broader Choosing Wisely Lab strategy.
• Reducing intravenous (IV) medication use when oral/enteral (PO) alternatives are appropriate: SHN launched a stewardship program aimed at reducing the IV use of the medications levetiracetam and pantoprazole. The goal was to achieve a 10 per cent reduction over a 20-month period, from April 2023 to January 2025.
  • IV pantoprazole usage decreased by 32.8 per cent.
  • IV levetiracetam usage decreased by 20 per cent.

“This recognition reflects SHN’s culture of innovation and continuous quality improvement, and the collaborative approach of our teams,” said Glyn Boatswain, Executive Vice President, Chief Nursing and Allied Professionals Executive at SHN. “Together, we are building a culture of clinical excellence and thoughtful stewardship for each patient encounter.”

The impact of these efforts is already being felt across the organization. From frontline staff to leadership, there is a shared commitment to advancing initiatives that prioritize patient safety and evidence-based care.

“Reducing unnecessary interventions and adopting best practices truly benefits our patients,” said Dr. Elaine Yeung, Chief Medical Information Officer. “Through initiatives like Choosing Wisely Canada, we are actively demonstrating our focus on continuously identifying opportunities to improve care delivery, minimize risks, and ensure that every decision is grounded in patient-centred values.”

About Scarborough Health Network

SHN is shaping the future of care. Across three hospitals and several community-based locations, SHN offers a spectrum of essential and specialized health services for a diverse community, delivering exceptional quality care through all stages of life. We are a member of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network, and a key partner for the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health, while SHN Research Institute is at the forefront of multicultural health research. With support from the Love, Scarborough fundraising campaign, SHN is working to Build It Forward through a multi-year redevelopment strategy. We are bringing innovative, state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and technology to our health network to meet Scarborough’s evolving needs into the future. Visit SHN.ca.