Ontario’s North York General improved efficiency, quality of patient care in ED by reducing unnecessary lab tests by 40%, unnecessary pre-op tests by 37%

North York General Hospital's (NYGH) ED sees more than 110,000 emergency visits a year. After evaluating the number of lab tests ordered in the hospital, it was found that about 40% came from the ED. Many of the tests were unnecessary and being generated as part of automatic order sets. NYGH and hospitals in the Joint Centres for Transformative Healthcare Innovation implemented Choosing Wisely recommendations across several institutions. At the completion of the project, NYGH achieved and sustained a 44% reduction in lab tests ordered through the ED and a 37% ED reduction in preoperative tests. It’s also expected patients won’t notice the change. NYGH explains its patients won't miss undergoing unnecessary tests that won't help with a diagnosis and would prefer to skip the possibility of avoidable harm, which can result from inappropriate testing.