Royal University Hospital, often abbreviated RUH, is one of four hospitals in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is located on the University of Saskatchewan campus. RUH is a teaching hospital and closely tied to the College of Medicine within the university. It was opened on May 14, 1955 by Saskatchewan premier Tommy C. Douglas.The seven-storey, seven wing structure took eight years to construct and equip, costing the people of Saskatchewan over $13,000,000. Over 16,000 tons of native limestone, quarried five miles north of campus, were used to face the half mile perimeter of the building. It is located on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River and just inside the gates of the University.It was the largest of the buildings that made up the University's Medical Complex. It was tied directly to the Medical College Building and in proximity to the Nursing Residence (Ellis Hall) and the Hospital Laundry Building. Its opening resulted in a sudden and massive influx of specialists, many of whom held faculty positions with the College of Medicine. The University Hospital became the primary teaching and training base for the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, as well as in a number of health care technologies.A major addition and renovation completed in 1979. In 1990 it received royal designation from Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. In 2007 it was announced that Royal University Hospital will be the site of the Saskatchewan Children's Hospital.In 2010 the hospital renovated and reopened the renamed Cameco Skywalk, a corridor connecting the central atrium to the main entrance in the paid-parking lot which was originally constructed in 1978. It features photographic murals of well-known Saskatoon cityscapes along the river and interior skyline paintings by young artists from Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Programming. The RUH Foundation named the skywalk to recognize Cameco's $1.5-million contribution to the foundation's campaign that established the Cameco chair in aboriginal health at the University of Saskatchewan.The corridor's grand opening was marred when a patient defecated in the Skywalk on the morning of the event, as witnessed by medical trainees. There have been further issues with the hospital involving unsanitary conditions.The Skywalk was destroyed in 2014 to make room for the Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan.It is equipped with a helipad for medical evacuations..
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a valuable clinical skill that improves clinical care but requires substantial training and curricular resources. Validated assessment tools provide empirical evidence regarding trainee performance while also informing program-level evaluation. The University of Saskatchewan’s medical school integrated two POCUS stations for use in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) to assess skill acquisition. The purpose of our study is to describe implementation of POCUS OSCE stations with respect to student performance and station psychometrics. Two POCUS applications (detection of pleural effusion and abdominal free fluid) were integrated into the Clinical Skills course OSCEs at the University of Saskatchewan’s medical school. To assess student performance on each station, Borderline Regression Analysis was utilized as the standard-setting method, incorporating data from checklist and global rating. First year medical students (n = 105) performed POCUS for the detection of pleural effusion (pass rate 70.86
Introduction: Detection of pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) typically involves several laboratory tools, with results limited to a defined list of targets. This study adapted a previously reported method for metagenomic sequencing of nasal swabs to describe sequencing data from BRD associated viruses. Changes in virus composition were identified between arrival to a feedlot and 14 days on feed (DOF). These data were also assessed for the simultaneous characterization of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Methods: Nasal swabs were obtained from fall-placed calves (FPC) and yearlings (YRL) from western Canadian commercial feedlots. Evidence of respiratory viruses were identified by sampling 380 animals during processing on arrival to the feedlot and again after 14 DOF using Nanopore metagenomic sequencing. Results: Twenty-one distinct viruses from 12 viral families were identified, with multiple viruses detected in most samples. In FPC arrival samples, the most common BRD associated viruses were bovine rhinitis B virus (BRBV; 46%), bovine coronavirus (BCoV; 32%), influenza D virus (IDV; 17%), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV; 8.5%), and bovine parainfluenza virus 3 (BPIV-3; 4.2%). The prevalences of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1; 2.7%), BPIV-3 (12%), BRSV (26%), and IDV (51%) were higher in 14 DOF samples compared to arrival samples (p < 0.05). Bovine viral diarrhea virus 1 (BVDV-1) and 2 (BVDV-2) were rarely detected at either time. The most prevalent viruses detected in YRL arrival samples were BRBV (42%), BRSV (39%), BPIV-3 (20%), IDV (16%), BCoV (12%), and BVDV-2 (7.5%). The prevalences of BRSV (60%), BPIV-3 (39%), and BVDV-2 (17%) were higher in 14 DOF samples than arrival samples (p < 0.05). BRSV (OR 7.0, 1.7-29) and BPIV-3 (OR 5.7, 1.5-21) were more likely to be detected in arrival samples from YRL than FPC (p = 0.01). In 14 DOF samples, BPIV-3 (OR 4.9, 1.3-19, p = 0.02) and BVDV-2 (OR 13, 2.0-83, p = 0.01) were identified more frequently in YRL than FPC. These data allowed the identification of respiratory bacteria and 33 ARGs in parallel with assessment of the viral components. The most prevalent bacteria detected in FPC at arrival were Mannheimia haemolytica (35%), Histophilus somni (35%) and Pasteurella multocida (23%). Detection of M. haemolytica increased at 14 DOF (p = 0.02), while P. multocida detection decreased (p = 0.03). At both arrival and 14 DOF in YRL, M. haemolytica was the most prevalent bacterium, followed by P. multocida and H. somni with no significant differences between arrival and 14 DOF samples. ARGs were detected more frequently in the 14 DOF samples than at arrival for both FPC (p = 0.03) and YRL (p = 0.01). The most commonly detected ARGs were associated with resistance to lincosamides and aminoglycosides; however, ARGs associated with other antimicrobials used in cattle including tetracyclines were also identified. Discussion: Changes in the prevalence of BRD associated viruses early in the feeding period reflect transmission and the potential risk of developing the disease. Frequent detection of BCoV, BRSV, and BPIV-3 in newly arrived feedlot cattle suggests the need for improved vaccination before shipping or limitations in existing commercial vaccine preparations.
Introduction Universal tumour-based screening using immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis has been recommended and implemented as a standard of care in patients with endometrial cancer (EC); however, few such studies have been published on Canadian cohorts. This study used a pilot screening programme to identify Lynch syndrome (LS) among newly diagnosed patients with EC in Saskatchewan and identify factors influencing the uptake of genetic counselling and testing to inform future oncology or specialist-led testing.Methods 48 patients with endometrial cancer were enrolled in ‘The UTERUS project’ from 2019 to 2021. All tumours underwent IHC staining for the mismatch repair (MMR) proteins and MLH1 promoter methylation testing. MMR proficient tumours and MLH1 methylated tumours underwent a 30 gene germline test, while those tumours that were MMR deficient (dMMR) without MLH1 methylation underwent a paired somatic/germline LS specific panel.Results Of the dMMR tumours with MLH1 deficiency all demonstrated MLH1 promoter methylation. Of the remaining 12 dMMR tumours half were found to have LS and half had double somatic MMR. It was observed that 43% of eligible patients were not enrolled by their caring physician. Of those, 75% were followed by a non-oncologist.Conclusions Paired somatic/germline testing is an appropriate first line test for those tumours that demonstrate dMMR without MLH1 promoter methylation. It was demonstrated that patients with EC being followed by a non-oncologist specialist were less likely to be referred for additional genetic counselling and testing, demonstrating that mainstream genetic resources should also be offered to non-oncologists treating patients with EC.
