An innovative digital strategy for dissemination of Choosing Wisely Canada guidelines in transfusion medicine

It is now well-recognized that unnecessary medical interventions may result in harm to patients. To help address this issue, the Canadian medical community has adopted a program called Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC), which is focused on increasing discussion between doctors and patients on unnecessary medical testing, procedures and treatments. This program is especially important when considering the use of a blood transfusion, which can carry significant risks, and is based on a very limited supply. One concern raised about the CWC program is that it may not be having the effect intended, because healthcare providers are not always fully aware of the guidelines suggested. It is therefore important to consider new strategies to inform and educate both the medical community and patients on these guidelines. Many healthcare professionals and patients now use video-based platforms such as YouTube to learn about new medical topics and diseases, and animated videos are an especially popular way of learning. YouTube also allows video producers to learn from viewers’ watching habits to improve videos and make them more effective. We propose to summarize the CWC blood transfusion guidelines as a series of short, entertaining and informative animated videos on YouTube, with the hope that this will improve our ability to inform doctors and other healthcare professionals of these guidelines and make blood transfusion safer.

CAMPBELL, Clinton

Nova Scotia Health Authority

BloodTechNet Award Program

Nova Scotia

$25,000