Session 3(b): Advancing Clinical Practice and Translational Insights in Northern Healthcare
October 23rd, 1:00pm - 2:00pm | Virtual, link to come
This session will feature a series of oral presentations highlighting current research, evaluation and quality improvement projects. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to share their work, followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Join us to hear in-depth presentations, gain new insights, and engage directly with presenters during the Q&A.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Title: Improving Engagement with Order Sets at St. John Hospital, Vanderhoof
- Speaker: Jean Johnson
- Description: Order Sets are standardized tools that support evidence-based and consistent patient care, yet usage at St. John Hospital in Vanderhoof was only 7%. This quality improvement initiative aimed to double utilization by addressing barriers of communication, accessibility, and staff engagement. Through strategies such as 5S organization, quick-reference guides, QR code posters, improved online access, and regular communication, the project is enhancing adoption and demonstrating how collaborative, context-sensitive approaches can strengthen rural healthcare delivery.
- (TENTATIVE) Title: Immunization Task Force Insights: Strengthening Practice Through Competency Review
- Speaker: Lara Frederick
- Description: The Northern Health (NH) Immunization Task Force (ITF) was launched in February 2025 following several critical incidents to strengthen immunization practice across the region. Phase 1 focused on urgent clinical needs, including ensuring nurses met organizational certification standards. Working with community leadership, nursing staff, and external partners, the ITF identified 149 full-scope immunizers and 167 COVID-19 immunizers, completing 67 skills checklists with support from certified assessors. This work clarified certification expectations, informed revisions to the Clinical Practice Standard, and improved orientation and practice tools. Key lessons included the importance of confirming standards and status before initiating work, setting clear deadlines, ensuring timely access to partners, and coordinating with relevant departments.
- Title: Characterizing expression patterns of lysine deacetylases across neurodevelopment
- Speaker: Nuziha Shakkir
- Description: Myelination, the process by which oligodendrocytes form an insulating membrane around axons, is crucial for efficient nerve conduction. In the developing brain, neural progenitor cells differentiate through specific stages to become mature, myelinating oligodendrocytes. This process is tightly regulated by complex transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms, including histone post-translational modifications. The lysine deacetylases are comprised of the Zn2+-dependent histone deacetylase (HDAC1–11) and NAD+-dependent sirtuin (SIRT1–7) families. Initially identified for their role in modifying histones, these enzymes regulate various cellular processes by targeting both histone and non-histone proteins. To explore their role in postnatal brain development, we first used qPCR to analyze mRNA expression in cortical tissue from C57BL/6 mice at postnatal ages P0–P84. Four distinct expression patterns were identified: i) gradual decline followed by a plateau, ii) early decline followed by a return to baseline, iii) early increase followed by a plateau, and iv) gradual increase followed by a return to baseline. In the sirtuin family, Sirt1, Sirt4, Sirt5, Sirt6, and Sirt7 were downregulated whereas Sirt2 and Sirt3 were upregulated with Sirt2 peaking during active myelination. In the CG4 oligodendrocyte cell line, Sirt1 was downregulated whereas Sirt2, Sirt3, and Sirt7 were upregulated. Western blot analysis of SIRT2 protein expression continued to increase from birth into adulthood in the developing cortex and increased during oligodendrocyte differentiation in cell culture. Based on these expression patterns, we examined myelination in the corpus callosum of SIRT2-KO and C57BL/6 mice using electron microscopy. At P15, SIRT2-KO mice exhibited a decrease in the percentage of myelinated axons. Further analysis also revealed enlarged mitochondria in both myelinated and unmyelinated axons suggesting a role for SIRT2 in cellular energetics. These findings underscore the critical role of sirtuins in brain development, especially for SIRT2 in oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination, with potential implications for myelin-related disorders.