Hospital-based specialist palliative care involvement before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: secondary analysis of a regional retrospective decedent cohort study in Ottawa, Canada.

Objectives: To determine the occurrence and clinicodemographic associations of hospital-based specialist palliative care (SPC) referral before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, timing of completed SPC consultation and comparative prevalence of 'no cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)' orders, and end-of-life medication use, according to SPC involvement.

Design: Cross-sectional secondary analysis of a retrospective cohort study with a pre-pandemic (November 2019 to February 2020) group (Pre-COVID, n=170) and two intra-pandemic (March to August 2020) groups, one without (COVID-ve, n=170) and one with COVID-19 infection (COVID+ve, n=85). In the cohort study, Pre-COVID and COVID-ve group decedents were matched 2:1 on age, sex and care service (internal medicine/intensive care unit (ICU)) at death with COVID+ve decedents.

Treatment approaches to horses with acute diarrhea admitted to referral institutions: A multicenter retrospective study.

Background: This study aimed to describe and compare therapeutic approaches for horses with acute diarrhea in different geographic regions worldwide.

Methods: Clinical information was retrospectively collected from diarrheic horses presented to participating institutions between 2016 and 2020, including fluid therapy on admission, antimicrobial drugs, probiotics, anti-endotoxic medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, gastroprotectants, digital cryotherapy, and toxin-binding agents. Seasonal and geographic differences were investigated.

Long-term bereavement outcomes in family members of those who died in acute care hospitals before and during the first wave of COVID-19: A cohort study.

Background: Severe grief is highly distressing and prevalent up to 1 year post-death among people bereaved during the first wave of COVID-19, but no study has assessed changes in grief severity beyond this timeframe.

Aim: Understand the trajectory of grief during the pandemic by reassessing grief symptoms in our original cohort 12-18 months post-death.

Design: Prospective matched cohort study.

Experience of introducing an electronic health records station in an objective structured clinical examination to evaluate medical students’ communication skills in Canada: a descriptive study.

Purpose: There is limited literature related to the assessment of electronic medical record (EMR)-related competencies. To address this gap, this study explored the feasibility of an EMR objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) station to evaluate medical students’ communication skills by psychometric analyses and standardized patients’ (SPs) perspectives on EMR use in an OSCE.

Methods: An OSCE station that incorporated the use of an EMR was developed and pilot-tested in March 2020.

Bereavement outcomes in family members of those who died in acute care hospitals before and during the first wave of COVID-19: A cohort study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths worldwide, leading to symptoms of grief among the bereaved. Neither the burden of severe grief nor its predictors are fully known within the context of the pandemic.

Aim: To determine the prevalence and predictors of severe grief in family members who were bereaved early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comparative end-of-life communication and support in hospitalised decedents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective regional cohort study in Ottawa, Canada.

Objective: To compare end-of-life in-person family presence, patient-family communication and healthcare team-family communication encounters in hospitalised decedents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: In a regional multicentre retrospective cohort study, electronic health record data were abstracted for a prepandemic group (pre-COVID) and two intrapandemic (March-August 2020, wave 1) groups, one COVID-19 free (COVID-ve) and one with COVID-19 infection (COVID+ve). Pre-COVID and COVID-ve groups were matched 2:1 (age, sex and care service) with the COVID+ve group.

One Health surveillance of West Nile and Usutu viruses: a repeated cross-sectional study exploring seroprevalence and endemicity in Southern France, 2016 to 2020.

BackgroundWest Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV), two closely related flaviviruses, mainly follow an enzootic cycle involving mosquitoes and birds, but also infect humans and other mammals. Since 2010, their epidemiological situation may have shifted from irregular epidemics to endemicity in several European regions; this requires confirmation, as it could have implications for risk assessment and surveillance strategies.AimTo explore the seroprevalence in animals and humans and potential endemicity of WNV and USUV in Southern France, given a long history of WNV outbreaks and the only severe human USUV case in France in this region.

Equine Umbilical Cord Serum Composition and Its Healing Effects in Equine Corneal Ulceration.

Background: Human autologous serum (AS) and umbilical cord serum (UCS) both contain growth and neurotrophic factors that promote corneal healing.

Aim: Our objectives were to compare equine AS and UCS cytokine and growth factor profiles and to assess the safety and clinical feasibility of the therapeutic use of UCS eye drops in cases of spontaneous complex ulcers.

Study Design: Prospective clinical trial.

Mesenchymal stem cell transplantation into the spinal cord of healthy adult horses undergoing cervical ventral interbody fusion.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (UC-MSC) transplantation into the cervical spinal cord of horses by using fluoroscopy with or without endoscopic guidance and to evaluate the neurological signs and tissue reaction after injection.

Study Design: Experimental study.

Animals: Eight healthy adult horses with no clinical signs of neurological disease.

Detection of serious adverse drug reactions using diagnostic codes in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

Canadian hospitals are legally required to report serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This study aimed to assess the ability to detect serious ADRs from diagnostic codes and the potential benefit of adding stand-alone diagnostic codes to the regular process for detecting serious ADRs. In this descriptive study, clinical pharmacists and a reference work on drug-induced diseases allowed to identify diagnostic codes in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Canada (ICD-10-CA), reflecting clinical manifestations related to an ADR.

Pharmacokinetics of low-dose methotrexate in horses.

This study aimed to investigate both the pharmacokinetic behavior and tolerance of methotrexate (MTX) in horses to design a specific dosing regimen as a new immunomodulatory drug for long-term treatment. To determine the primary plasma pharmacokinetic variables after single intravenous, subcutaneous or oral administration, six horses were administered 0.3 mg/kg MTX in a crossover design study.

Infected Rastelli Conduit in an Immunocompromised Patient That Was Not Visible on Transthoracic Echocardiogram.

An 18-year-old man with a history of right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit implantation for repair of congenital heart disease and vasculitis requiring chronic immunosuppression with azathioprine presented to the University of Ottawa with bacteremia. A transthoracic echocardiogram revealed no abnormalities at the site of the conduit. A fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan was subsequently obtained that demonstrated an infected right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit.

Impact of adverse drug reactions on the coding of a hospital stay in Quebec: exploratory descriptive study by simulation.

The discharge summary sheet's coding allows calculation of the severity index (SI), mortality index (MI), and resource intensity weight (RIW). These indicators help to describe the burden of care for individual cases and could potentially influence patient-based funding. This study was undertaken to simulate the impact of different adverse drug reactions (ADRs) on the hospital length of stay, thus allowing calculation of the effect of ADRs on the SI, MI, and RIW.

PREPARING FOR VANESSA'S LAW: COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE MEDICAL RECORDS AND PHARMACY DEPARTMENTS AT A CANADIAN HOSPITAL CENTER.

Background And Objective: In the context of Vanessa's Law, the medical records department and the pharmacy team of a mother-child hospital collaborated to create a system for coding adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This study was conducted to validate the coding of ADRs by the medical records team.

Material And Methods: This retrospective descriptive study covered 12 months of coding of hospitalization data by the medical records team (November 1, 2017, to October 31, 2018).

Building a CTU Orientation Handbook iPad application for first-year residents.

Background: The General Internal Medicine Clinical Teaching Unit (CTU) is a challenging rotation for new residents and the optimal format of orientation has not been determined. We hypothesized that an iPad application (app) would be a useful reference tool after residents completed their traditional large group orientation.

Methods: Postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residents were sent a link to download the free app one week before the start of their rotation.

The implementation and evaluation of an e-Learning training module for objective structured clinical examination raters in Canada.

Improving the reliability and consistency of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) raters' marking poses a continual challenge in medical education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an e-Learning training module for OSCE raters who participated in the assessment of third-year medical students at the University of Ottawa, Canada. The effects of online training and those of traditional in-person (face-to-face) orientation were compared.

Seroprevalence of horses to Coxiella burnetii in an Q fever endemic area.

Coxiella burnetii can infect many animal species, but its circulation dynamics in and through horses is still unclear. This study evaluated horse exposure in an area known to be endemic for ruminants and humans. We assessed antibody prevalence in horse serum by ELISA, and screened by qPCR horse blood, ticks found on horses and dust from stables.

How do formative objective structured clinical examinations drive learning? Analysis of residents' perceptions.

Introduction: Although several studies have explored the relationship between learning and written tests, little is understood about how performance-based examinations influence learning. The purpose of this study was to explore how a formative objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) drives learning.

Methods: We administered surveys to residents (n = 35) at three time points to determine if and how an OSCE influenced their learning: before and immediately following the OSCE, and after the distribution of their results.

One particular Anaplasma phagocytophilum ecotype infects cattle in the Camargue, France.

Background: Anaplasma phagocytophilum is a zoonotic tick-borne pathogen responsible for granulocytic anaplasmosis, a mild to a severe febrile disease that affects man and several animal species, including cows and horses. In Europe, I. ricinus is the only proven vector for this pathogen, but studies suggest that other tick genera and species could be involved in its transmission.

Successful medical treatment of an Aspergillus terreus mycetoma of the nostril/lip in a 16-year-old Fjord pony gelding with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction.

Background: Mycetoma is a chronic, proliferative lesion of cutaneous/subcutaneous tissue characterized by draining tracts and granules in the discharge caused by actinomycetes (actinomycetoma) or filamentous fungi (eumycotic mycetoma).

Objectives: This case report describes the unusual finding of a cutaneous mycetoma of the lateral wing of the right nostril in a gelding.

Animal: A 16-year-old Fjord gelding with suspected pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) was presented for evaluation of a nonpainful, firm and raised mass involving the lateral wing of the right nostril and the lip.

Done or Almost Done? Improving OSCE Checklists to Better Capture Performance in Progress Tests.

Unlabelled: Construct: The impact of using nonbinary checklists for scoring residents from different levels of training participating in objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) progress tests was explored.

Background: OSCE progress tests typically employ similar rating instruments as traditional OSCEs. However, progress tests differ from other assessment modalities because learners from different stages of training participate in the same examination, which can pose challenges when deciding how to assign scores.