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Launch of RACGP’s 'First do no harm: A guide to choosing wisely in general practice'

Published: 23 February 2023

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (Opens in new tab) (RACGP) has launched a new clinical guide for both GPs and patients, with a primary focus on reducing patient harms and avoiding low-value care.

First do no harm: A guide to choosing wisely in general practice (Opens in new tab) helps GPs and patients to make evidence-based shared decisions, where the harms may outweigh the benefits. This online, ‘living’ resource provides GPs and patients with information on:

  • overused tests
  • overdiagnosed and overtreated conditions and
  • interventions with insufficient evidence.

First do no harm will help patients to make empowered and balanced decisions about their health, providing them with the evidence and tools to assist in shared decision making with their GP. The patient resource includes information about the specific test or treatment, with answers to common questions, and an overview of the potential harms they need to consider when making their decision.

The GP information in First do no harm highlights the most important actions to consider through a ‘traffic light’ system at the top of the page. The traffic lights highlight the main actions on a specific topic so they can be easily found by GPs during a patient consultation. Further context and extra reading, if required, can be found within the topic overview.

RACGP First do no harm

Additionally, each GP resource includes a QR code that links to the patient-facing information, allowing GPs to talk through tests and treatments with patients as they access complementary resources in real-time within the consultation. Patients can also download the resources to read in their free time. We hope this will help enable positive and constructive conversations between GPs and their patients.

First do no harm has launched with five initial topics, with more to be released in 2023. The first five topics are:

  • Imaging in adults with acute low back pain
  • Management of subclinical hypothyroidism
  • MTHFR gene testing
  • Vitamin C infusions
  • Vitamin D testing

Last reviewed: March 2023