Call for Content - Choosing Wisely Canada National Conference

Exciting news! We are thrilled to share that the next Choosing Wisely Canada National Meeting will be in Winnipeg in May 2025! This is your chance to showcase the amazing initiatives and innovative care approaches you have implemented in the Manitoba health system to reduce low value tests, treatments and procedures. Ready to shine? Submit your abstract or presentation pitch now!

Call for Content: Choosing Wisely Canada’s National Meeting – Choosing Wisely Canada

Dr. Sokoro with his CWC Award in 2024

Choosing Wisely Manitoba is proud to announce, Dr. AbdulRazaq Sokoro, PhD, FCACB, FADLM. Chief Operating Officer, Provincial Diagnostic Services, Shared Health, was awarded the Clinical Excellence in Choosing Wisely Award at the national Choosing Wisely Conference held in Montreal on April 15, 2024. This award, recognizes a clinician (physician, nursing, pharmacist, allied health) who has exhibited exceptional leadership and commitment to resource stewardship within their clinical practice, with a dedication to reducing unnecessary tests and treatments while enhancing patient care.

Dr. Sokoro has contributed to Manitoba’s health system for 14 years serving in a variety of roles including Shared Health’s Executive Director of Provincial Laboratory Operations, and Associate Head of the Department of Pathology at the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine

As noted in his nomination, Dr. Sokoro has supported a large number of initiatives in Manitoba, which have resulted in the following changes and improvements:

  • Streamlined and sustainably reduced Vitamin D testing in Manitoba by 90%
  • Embedded Choosing Wisely/ Resource Stewardship into curriculum with International Medical Graduate students and Post Graduate Medical Student Education
  • Championed the development and implementation of Manitoba Endocrine Guidelines including guidance on screening and adding reflex testing for Free T3 and T4
  • Introduced Provincial guidelines to reduce FOB testing of inpatients by 74%
  • Supported provincial guidelines for hospital labs to require a positive urinalysis prior to a urine culture, to encourage appropriate testing.

Dr. Sokoro holds a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and Zoology from Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya as well as a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Saskatchewan and a post-doctoral residency in Clinical Biochemistry from the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Clinical Biochemistry, Canada and the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine in the United States.

His recent professional accomplishments beyond Choosing Wisely range from the standardization of quality oversight of point of care testing in a partnership with First Nations & Inuit Health Branch, development of a red blood cell utilization/transfusion strategy that brought Manitoba in line with the rest of Canada, to ongoing efforts to train, recruit and retain laboratory staff. Dr. Sokoro’s collaborative approach and passionate advocacy for communities, partner organizations and staff are valued assets as part of any team he is part of.

Congratulations Dr. Sokoro, your efforts and perseverance have assisted Manitoba’s current and future health providers to choose more wisely.

Addressing Surgical backlogs in Canada

When: April 19 at 12 PM ET 
Register here

Surgical backlogs are causing significant pressures in provinces across the country, exacerbated by successive waves of the pandemic and shortages in health human resources. What is the role of reducing overuse in addressing backlogs and how can we better support Canadians in making informed decisions about their surgical care?

Join Choosing Wisely Talks on April 19 at 12 p.m. ET to discuss the current state of surgical backlogs in Canada. Experts will discuss the role of shared decision-making, system changes, and how we can work together to improve access to timely and high-quality surgical care.

Speakers

Dr. Logan Trenaman, Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, University of British Columbia

Dr. Sacha Bhatia, Population Health and Value Based Care Executive, Ontario Health

Pharmacists’ Expanded Scope — and What it Means for Appropriate Prescribing

When: March 22 at 12 PM ET 
Register: https://choosingwiselycanada.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYod-mvpjssH9T-yQ0AbAmPqM38BULkJDMB

In several provinces, the scope of pharmacist prescribing has expanded, enabling them to assess and prescribe treatments for common syndromes. With other provinces and territories expected to adopt similar approaches, how do we support pharmacists, physicians, and other healthcare professionals in promoting resource stewardship and appropriate prescribing practices?

On March 22 at 12 p.m. ET, Choosing Wisely Talks will discuss the widened scope of practice for pharmacists. Experts will discuss recent changes and future thinking around interprofessional collaboration in patient care.

Speakers

Danielle Paes, Chief Pharmacist Officer, Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA)

Shelita Dattani, Vice President, Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada

Discussant

Janet Reynolds, Family Physician, Choosing Wisely Canada Primary Care Co-Lead

Choosing Wisely Canada is now accepting abstracts to be featured at Choosing Wisely Canada’s National Meeting, on May 11 and May 12, 2023.

Showcase your Choosing Wisely Canada initiatives and innovative approaches based on the following themes:

  • Quality Improvement/Implementation (e.g. interventions, health policy, interprofessional collaboration, deprescribing)
  • Measurement and Evaluation (e.g. administrative data, trends in low-value care, impact of intervention on low-value care)
  • Medical Education
  • Patient Engagement
  • Environmental Sustainability (reducing low-value care can avoid harm to patients and the planet)
  • Appropriate Prescribing

Abstracts will be accepted in English and French. Relevant abstracts will be published in a digital abstract book and considered for in-person presentations in concurrent breakout sessions.

Important Dates:

  • Abstract submissions will be accepted until January 13, 2023.
  • Abstracts considered for in-person presentations will be notified by February 6, 2023.
  • National Meeting: May 11 & May 12, 2023.

If you are submitting an abstract from Manitoba, please email [email protected].

Full details

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