This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site.
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Authors: Reza Mirza, Resident Physician, McMaster University and Justin Hall, Resident Physician in Emergency Medicine, University of Toronto
Up to 30 per cent of health care is unnecessary.
That’s according to a study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Alarmist in its extrapolation, perhaps, but certainly indicative of a true problem.
Granted: Unnecessary care is wasted time and expenditure in a system that buckles under the cost of designer drugs and an aging population. More subtle — but more important — is the actual harm caused by unnecessary health care.
We are resident physicians-in-training, and we’ve joined Choosing Wisely, Canada’s grassroots movement to re-evaluate health care.
Chances are that if you visit a Canadian hospital, you will at some point receive care from a resident physician. Resident physicians like us earn the title of doctor after eight years of medical and post-secondary training, but our training continues in practice as we become experts in our chosen fields of specialty.