Choosing Wisely: More is not always a plus. Deciding together.
More than half of the population in Switzerland has the feeling that they themselves or people close to them have already received unnecessary medical treatment. This is the result of a representative survey commissioned by the association smarter medicine - Choosing Wisely Switzerland.
Studies even show that about 20 to 30 percent of the Health care costs caused by treatments that are not medically indicated. For this reason, the smarter medicine association is launching a broad-based campaign at the beginning of October to draw attention to the issue of misuse and overuse in medicine.
The association smarter medicine - Choosing Wisely Switzerland commissioned the opinion research institute GfK to conduct a representative survey1 on medical misuse and overuse.
These are the main results:
- 40 percent of respondents believe that in Switzerland in the medical care too much or the wrong thing is done.
- More than 50 percent of respondents confirm that they feel they themselves or people around them have received unnecessary treatment at some point.
- Nearly half of the respondents also said that when they were Doctor's visit had the feeling that I had not understood everything.
What helps against overuse and misuse in medicine? The following measures are in the foreground for the respondents:
- Get a second opinion from another doctor
- More time for the conversation with the doctor.
- Better information about the treatment and Diagnostic methods.
- Sanctions against physicians who prescribe or treat more than necessary for cost reasons.
"There is medical overuse in Switzerland and people are really aware of this," says Antoine Casabianca, representative of the consumer organizations on the board of the smarter medicine association, summarizing the results of the survey. In particular, Casabianca says, the population wants to be better informed and more understandable, so that they can understand and critically review the decisions made by medical professionals. "By preparing credible and verifiable information, the smarter medicine campaign meets an important need among the population," he notes.
Info and background
The smarter medicine - Choosing Wisely Switzerland initiative is supported by a broad alliance in which medical societies, healthcare professionals, consumer and patient organizations are represented. The supporting association was founded in 2017.
1 The survey was conducted online between June 28 and July 3, 2018, among around 1,000 people in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
