125 results match your criteria: "Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre[Affiliation]"

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map the existing evidence on the epidemiology, care challenges, and impacts of various wound types among individuals living with dementia across different stages of the disease.

Introduction: Dementia is a growing global health concern, projected to rise significantly as the population ages. This condition not only affects cognitive function but also increases the risk of chronic wounds in part due to impairments in mobility, self-care, and communication.

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There was an unprecedented surge in admissions for medical stabilization of pediatric patients with eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. Eleven hospitals established an integrated rapid response model to ensure timely in-patient access for these patients. This population was cared for in re-allocated community hospital beds as a result of engaging hospital leadership, strengthening partnerships, consulting experts, leveraging existing resources and developing regional bed access strategies.

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Developing a toolkit for building a community hospital clinical research program.

Can J Anaesth

December 2024

Division of Critical Care, Niagara Health, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.

Article Synopsis
  • Health research in Canada mainly occurs in academic hospitals, but community hospitals serve most patients; enhancing research in these settings can lead to better patient outcomes and organizational efficiency.
  • The Canadian Community Intensive Care Unit Research Network (CCIRNet) created a toolkit to help community hospital professionals launch and maintain their research programs, drawing on insights from experienced clinician-researchers and qualitative feedback.
  • The CCIRNet toolkit details five stages for developing a research program, using a question-and-answer format to provide practical guidance and resources tailored to help hospitals effectively engage in clinical research.
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Linac-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) with planning target volume (PTV) margins <1 mm has become increasingly common in recent years. Optical surface imaging for surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT) is often used for intra-fraction motion monitoring during these treatments to facilitate the use of a smaller PTV margin by providing real-time quantitative patient positioning information. However, rotating the couch introduces errors to SGRT-reported translations and rotations that can be problematic for SRS treatments with non-coplanar arcs and very small PTV margins.

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Spine Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in Geriatric Patients: Implications of Age and Dose on Iatrogenic Vertebral Compression Fracture Risk.

Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys

November 2024

Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an effective treatment for spinal metastases; however, outcomes specific to a geriatric population have not been described. This study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of spine SBRT, in particular the rate of iatrogenic vertebral compression fracture (VCF), in patients aged 70 and older.

Patients And Methods: From a prospectively maintained single-institutional database of 976 patients and 2407 spinal segments treated with SBRT for vertebral metastases between 2008 and 2021, all patients aged 70 or above were retrospectively reviewed.

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Cardiovascular Health in Breast Cancer: Survivorship Care.

Cardiol Clin

February 2025

Wilmot Cancer Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Advances in breast cancer screening and treatment have led to over 7.8 million women surviving at least 5 years post-diagnosis, but these survivors often face increased heart health risks.
  • The field of cardio-oncology focuses on managing cardiovascular health in breast cancer survivors, emphasizing tailored strategies like risk assessment, lifestyle changes, and proper monitoring.
  • Successful cardio-oncology care relies on teamwork between healthcare providers and patients, using shared-care models and telemedicine to enhance the quality of survivorship.
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Background: Community hospitals provide the majority of patient care in Canada but traditionally do not participate in clinical research. The disconnect between where most patients receive their health care and where health research is conducted leads to decreased study recruitment, reduced generalizability of study results, and inequitable patient access to novel therapies. A scoping review of the research activities of Ontario's large community hospitals (LCHs) between 2013 and 2015 reported an annualized output of 266 publications.

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Patient-reported sexual health outcomes of cervical cancer patients treated with definitive chemoradiation and MRI-guided brachytherapy.

Gynecol Oncol

November 2024

Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Cervical cancer survivors often experience significant issues related to sexual health, with high rates of sexual dysfunction, distress, and menopausal symptoms reported by patients.
  • A study involving 73 patients showed no strong correlation between self-reported sexual health outcomes and physician-assessed vaginal toxicity, indicating a disparity between patient experiences and medical assessments.
  • Factors such as being non-partnered, using hormone replacement therapy, and receiving higher radiation doses to the vagina were linked to poorer sexual health, suggesting a need for targeted interventions in these areas.
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Background And Objectives: Care plans summarize a child with medical complexity's (CMC) medical history and ongoing care needs. Often, the health care team controls the care plan content, limiting caregivers' ability to edit the document in real time and potentially compromising accuracy and utility. With this study, we aimed to provide caregivers of CMC with online access and shared editing control of their child's care plan and to explore the experiences of caregivers and care team members (CTMs) after using an online collaborative care plan (OCCP).

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Purpose: To examine if an ED interprofessional team ("ED1Team") could safely decrease hospital admissions among older persons.

Methods: This single-center, retrospective, propensity score matched study was performed at a single ED during a control (December 2/2018-March 31/2019) and intervention (December 2/2019-March 31/2020) period. The intervention was assessed by the ED1Team, which could include an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, and social worker.

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Objectives: 1) To compare the effect of the self-report distress tool (DT) and rapid mental health referral process (MH) on vocational training program attendance. 2) To compare the effect of the DT and MH on vocational training program completion. 3) To compare the effect of the DT an MH on post-vocational training program employment.

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Background: Falls with harms (FWH) in hospitalized patients increase costs and lengths of stay. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more FWH. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased patients in isolation with fewer visitors.

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Purpose: Though medical education podcasts are fast gaining popularity, they are overwhelmingly focused on teaching the medical expert role of physicians. We explored how medical learners and educators engaged with and learned from an empathy and communication-focused podcast and sought their recommendations for integrating the podcast into medical curricula.

Methods: Six virtual, semi-structured focus groups were conducted with educators and learners within a large urban hospital and university setting.

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Objective: Current guidelines recommend that patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to hospitals not capable of performing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) be transferred to a PCI-capable hospital if reperfusion can be accomplished within 120 min. Most STEMI patients are accompanied by an advanced care paramedic (ACP, equivalent to EMT-P), nurse, or physician who can manage complications should they arise. In our region, stable STEMI patients are transported by primary care paramedics (PCPs, similar scope of practice to advanced EMT) in cases where a nurse, physician, or ACP paramedic is not available.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Non-secretory multiple myeloma (NSMM) is a rare and hard-to-detect form of multiple myeloma that often lacks significant monoclonal protein production, complicating diagnosis.
  • - Two patients undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma developed extramedullary masses that were biopsied and confirmed as non-secretory plasmacytomas, despite showing no measurable monoclonal proteins in their blood work.
  • - Radiotherapy effectively treated the localized masses without altering the patients' ongoing systemic therapies, suggesting it's a viable option for managing NSMM relapses while maintaining other treatments.
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Chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment after maximal safe resection for glioblastoma (GBM). Despite advances in molecular profiling, surgical techniques, and neuro-imaging, there have been no major breakthroughs in radiotherapy (RT) volumes in decades. Although the majority of recurrences occur within the original gross tumor volume (GTV), treatment of a clinical target volume (CTV) ranging from 1.

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Background: Essential Thrombocythemia is a chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by an isolated excessive production of platelets. Extreme thrombocytosis is defined by having a platelet count greater than or equal to 1,000 x 10/L, which may lead to the development of acquired von Willebrand syndrome and complications of excessive hemorrhage.

Case Description: A 74-year-old female patient was brought in for a bone marrow examination regarding elevated platelet count.

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Role of PET/Computed Tomography in Gastric and Colorectal Malignancies.

PET Clin

April 2024

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery & Health Sciences, 160 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia.

This article focuses on the role of PET/computed tomography in evaluating and managing gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. The authors start with describing the common aspects of imaging with 2-deoxy-2-F-d-glucose, followed by tumor-specific discussions of gastric and colorectal malignancies. Finally, the authors provide a brief overview of non-FDG tracers including their potential clinical applications, and describe future directions in imaging these malignancies.

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Introduction: Primary appendiceal carcinoma is rare and comprises up to 1% of all colorectal malignancies. Its invasion into adjacent organs, such as the bladder and rectum, especially as a presenting characteristic, is even less common.

Case Presentation: A 75-year-old asymptomatic male tested positive on a screening fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

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Article Synopsis
  • * The BREVITY clinical trial aims to confirm earlier studies and has reported findings from its training phase, establishing RNA disruption index (RDI) cut points for predicting patient outcomes.
  • * In the training set, higher RDI values were associated with responders achieving a pathologic complete response, while an RDI value of ≤3.7 strongly predicted a lack of response, indicating potential for optimizing treatment based on RNA disruption assessments.
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We present a case of lymphocytosis assumed and managed initially as a chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Shortly after initial visit, the patient's condition deteriorated rapidly with hepatosplenomegaly, pleural effusion, ascites, and skin lesions. Flow cytometry (FC) showed the presence of clonal T-cell population, reported as T-cell lymphoma.

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Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease, characterized by chronic intestinal inflammation, can be subcategorized into Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The treatment for these conditions is unique to each patient and may include lifestyle changes, pharmaceutical intervention, and surgery. Lifestyle changes, such as dietary intervention, are a cornerstone of inflammatory bowel disease symptom management.

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Article Synopsis
  • Community-based exercise programs that collaborate with healthcare organizations can help post-stroke individuals maintain a habit of exercise, but understanding how these programs are implemented from different viewpoints is crucial for their success.
  • The study focused on the experiences of various stakeholders involved in a 12-week exercise program, examining costs and highlighting themes that affected their decisions to implement and participate in the program.
  • Key findings showed that program quality and perceptions of benefits significantly influenced managers' decisions to collaborate, while prior experiences helped staff overcome initial challenges in delivering the program effectively.
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