St. Boniface General Hospital (Winnipeg)
Encyclopedia
St. Boniface General Hospital (also called St. Boniface Hospital or St. B) is Manitoba
's second-largest hospital
, located in the St. Boniface
neighbourhood of Winnipeg. It was founded by the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns
) of Montreal
in 1871, and was the first hospital in Western Canada
. The hospital was incorporated in 1960, and as of 2003 has 554 beds and 78 bassinet
s.
St. Boniface Hospital is a tertiary health care facility, employing nearly 700 doctors and around 1,500 nurses. The hospital buildings cover about 120774 m² (1,300,000.5 sq ft). The St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation is the primary fundraising organization for the hospital. The general admissions program cares for 4,000 patients per year in-hospital, and about 40,000 as outpatients. Over 5,000 births per year occur at the hospital. St. Boniface is a regional centre for cardiac care, and is one of two specialized laboratory testing facilities. It also provides diagnostic imaging and hemodialysis for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
.
Besides patient care, St. Boniface Hospital also carries out medical research and offers practicum positions for university students through its affiliation with the University of Manitoba
. The hospital's primary research mandate is in cardiovascular studies, imaging (especially MRI), neurodegenerative disorders, and nutraceuticals. The hospital also participates in clinical trials of research discoveries.
and Assiniboine River
s in the St. Boniface
neighbourhood of Winnipeg, which is home to a large proportion of Manitoba's Francophone
population. It lies across the river from downtown and The Forks. The hospital has a parking structure and three parking lots, and is served by five Winnipeg Transit
bus routes. The hospital also has an ambulance
bay.
St. Boniface Hospital was established by the Grey Nuns
in 1871, the first hospital west of Quebec. At that time, it was a small facility with four beds. An operating room was added in 1894. The Grey Nuns opened a school of nursing in 1897 and used the hospital to teach patient care. By the early 1900s, the hospital was treating approximately 2,500 patients per year. An isolation hospital and nurse's residence was added in 1900. Due to overcrowding, a new addition was built in 1905, effectively doubling the patient capacity of the hospital. It was awarded provisional approval by the American College of Surgeons
(ACS) in 1944, later becoming the office of the Manitoba Chapter of the ACS. As of 2003, the hospital has 554 beds and 78 bassinet
s.
The hospital order was incorporated
in 1960 under the name St. Boniface General Hospital, giving it the right to invest and borrow money, own property, and collect fees for services. St. Boniface Hospital, along with the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, opened the first hospice
programs in Canada in 1975. The Hospital Research Centre opened in 1987, becoming the first Canadian free-standing medical research facility. During the 1997 Red River Flood, the hospital had to be evacuated, and has since created a disaster plan to cope any future evacuations or closures.
The Institute for stained glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at St Boniface Hospital.
MRI Centre, and the I. H. Asper
Clinical Research Institute, which are operated with research grants
, industry contracts, fundraising
, and funding from the University of Manitoba. The centre opened in 1987. Its primary research mandate addresses three main areas: cardiovascular
sciences, magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) and spectroscopy
, and degenerative disorders associated with aging
. In addition, the Centre undertakes research in anesthesia
, epidemiology
, family medicine, infectious disease
s, nephrology
, nursing, nutraceutical
s, pharmaceuticals, sleep disorder
s, and surgery.
at the cellular
and molecular
levels. It also hosts the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, the journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences, and its journal Experimental & Clinical Cardiology. The Institute was created as the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in 1987 by Dr. Naranjan Dhalla
. Its researchers have been published in such academic journals as the New England Journal of Medicine
and Cardiovascular Research.
, stroke
s, traumatic brain injury
, and central nervous system
degeneration, to study the effect of diabetes on neurodegeneration, and to conduct sleep studies. As of 2008, the principal investigators collectively have over 150 journal publications.
in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. CCARM’s mandate is to research natural health product
s and give the results to the scientific community and the general public. The results of their research have been published in numerous academic journals, including the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
, spinal cord
, internal organs and joints. St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre is a recognized leader in the MRI field and has one of the largest MRI research facilities in Canada. An MRI was first installed at St. Boniface in 1990; this MRI was eventually replaced by a more modern version, which is primarily used for clinical purposes. The other two MRIs are research-oriented: they are an interventional scanner and a head-only functional unit. The clinical scanner enables the Centre to do echo-planar imaging, producing images at video rates; the interventional MRI gives physicians access to the patient during imaging, which supports research into robotics-guided laser surgery. Research carried out at the centre has been published in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
The I. H. Asper Clinical Research Institute facilitates clinical trials of the discoveries made at the Research Centre. The Institute is the third research facility in Canada to conduct tests on new drugs and medical devices. The I. H. Asper Clinical Research Institute was opened in 2004.
's education and research branches, providing internship and practicum
positions for students. The hospital works with multiple University of Manitoba faculties, including medicine
, nursing
, pharmacy
, social work
, physiotherapy and occupational therapy
, as well as with Red River College
and Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface
. St. Boniface Hospital also hosts the Winnipeg Critical Care Nursing Education Program.
, endocrinology
, rheumatology
, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology
, hematology
, oncology
and neurology
. The outreach program also includes at-home intravenous therapy and nutrition
. The hospital has 14 operating rooms; there is also a surgical intensive care unit
available for recovery. The surgical department treats over 14,000 patients per year. St. Boniface's emergency department
provides acute care for an average of over 100 patients per day. The emergency room has recently been renovated, and the department is currently working to reduce patient wait times.
The Family Medicine Program is designed to encourage disease prevention and health maintenance. It also includes a palliative care
unit, the first nationally accredited palliative residency program in Canada. The Rehabilitation Program provides inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy. The Mental Health program provides psychological and counselling services to adult and adolescent patients. It also maintains an inpatient program, and provides stress counselling to hospital staff.
, Cardiac Anesthesiology and Critical Care) is an integrated heart
health unit designed to treat cardiac problems. The Bergen Cardiac Care Centre provides access to tertiary cardiology care and hosts cardiac operations and diagnostics, the only hospital in Manitoba to offer certain specialized services. It includes two cardiac angiography rooms, one pacemaker
and cardiac defibrillator room, one room for procedures in electrophysiology
, 17 recovery beds, cardiology clinics, echocardiography
rooms, and office space.
imaging, CT scans, MRIs, mammography
, nuclear medicine
tests, ultrasound
s and X-ray
s. St. Boniface was the home of Manitoba's first MRI scanner, and is one of the largest diagnostic MRI facilities in Western Canada.
, hematology
, immunology
, microbiology
, cytology
and pathology
for patients and doctors in Manitoba. They also provide some specialized testing facilities for educational institutions.
as part of the Manitoba Renal Program. It also has a renal health clinic to assess patients with kidney problems.
and the United States
, Canada does not publish national ratings of individual hospitals.
According to internal reviews, the hospital reduced average wait times for acute care surgical patients from 10 hours to 3 between October 2008 and February 2009. As of 2009, the hospital is trying to reduce wait times for emergency room patients. Wait times for scheduled diagnostic services range from 4 weeks for bone density tests to 20 weeks for a myocardial perfusion study. The median wait time for cardiac surgery is 26 days.
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
's second-largest hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
, located in the St. Boniface
Saint Boniface, Manitoba
Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg, home to much of the Franco-Manitoban community. It features such landmarks as the Cathédrale de Saint Boniface , Boulevard Provencher, the Provencher Bridge, Esplanade Riel, St. Boniface Hospital, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the Royal...
neighbourhood of Winnipeg. It was founded by the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns
Grey Nuns
The Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Order of Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian order of Roman Catholic religious sisters...
) of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1871, and was the first hospital in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
. The hospital was incorporated in 1960, and as of 2003 has 554 beds and 78 bassinet
Bassinet
A bassinet or bassinette is a bed specifically for babies from birth to about four months, and small enough to provide a "cocoon" that small babies find comforting....
s.
St. Boniface Hospital is a tertiary health care facility, employing nearly 700 doctors and around 1,500 nurses. The hospital buildings cover about 120774 m² (1,300,000.5 sq ft). The St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation is the primary fundraising organization for the hospital. The general admissions program cares for 4,000 patients per year in-hospital, and about 40,000 as outpatients. Over 5,000 births per year occur at the hospital. St. Boniface is a regional centre for cardiac care, and is one of two specialized laboratory testing facilities. It also provides diagnostic imaging and hemodialysis for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is the governing body for healthcare regulation in an area of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Established in December 1999, the WRHA is one of 12 Regional Health Authorities in Manitoba responsible for coordinating health services in designated regions...
.
Besides patient care, St. Boniface Hospital also carries out medical research and offers practicum positions for university students through its affiliation with the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
. The hospital's primary research mandate is in cardiovascular studies, imaging (especially MRI), neurodegenerative disorders, and nutraceuticals. The hospital also participates in clinical trials of research discoveries.
Location
St Boniface General Hospital is located between the RedRed River of the North
The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...
and Assiniboine River
Assiniboine River
The Assiniboine River is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked within a flat, shallow valley in some places and a steep valley in...
s in the St. Boniface
Saint Boniface, Manitoba
Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg, home to much of the Franco-Manitoban community. It features such landmarks as the Cathédrale de Saint Boniface , Boulevard Provencher, the Provencher Bridge, Esplanade Riel, St. Boniface Hospital, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the Royal...
neighbourhood of Winnipeg, which is home to a large proportion of Manitoba's Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
population. It lies across the river from downtown and The Forks. The hospital has a parking structure and three parking lots, and is served by five Winnipeg Transit
Winnipeg Transit
Winnipeg Transit is the public transit agency in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is a bus-only operator.The Winnipeg Street Railway operated a horse car operation from 1882 to 1894...
bus routes. The hospital also has an ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
bay.
History
Grey Nuns
The Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Order of Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian order of Roman Catholic religious sisters...
in 1871, the first hospital west of Quebec. At that time, it was a small facility with four beds. An operating room was added in 1894. The Grey Nuns opened a school of nursing in 1897 and used the hospital to teach patient care. By the early 1900s, the hospital was treating approximately 2,500 patients per year. An isolation hospital and nurse's residence was added in 1900. Due to overcrowding, a new addition was built in 1905, effectively doubling the patient capacity of the hospital. It was awarded provisional approval by the American College of Surgeons
American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.-Membership:...
(ACS) in 1944, later becoming the office of the Manitoba Chapter of the ACS. As of 2003, the hospital has 554 beds and 78 bassinet
Bassinet
A bassinet or bassinette is a bed specifically for babies from birth to about four months, and small enough to provide a "cocoon" that small babies find comforting....
s.
The hospital order was incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
in 1960 under the name St. Boniface General Hospital, giving it the right to invest and borrow money, own property, and collect fees for services. St. Boniface Hospital, along with the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, opened the first hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
programs in Canada in 1975. The Hospital Research Centre opened in 1987, becoming the first Canadian free-standing medical research facility. During the 1997 Red River Flood, the hospital had to be evacuated, and has since created a disaster plan to cope any future evacuations or closures.
The Institute for stained glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at St Boniface Hospital.
Funding
Basic medical care is a benefit provided to all Canadians through Canada's publicly-funded health system. However, significant additional funding is required for medical research, improvements in patient services, and the clinical programs found at St. Boniface Hospital. The hospital ended the 2008 fiscal year with a C$900,000 deficit. The St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation, founded in 1971, is the primary fundraising organization for St. Boniface Hospital and the Research Centre. By the end of 2006, the Foundation had raised over C$100 million for patient care and research.Research
The St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre is the hospital's main research facility. It comprises three separate units: the G. Campbell MacLean Building, the Dr. Andrei SakharovAndrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
MRI Centre, and the I. H. Asper
Izzy Asper
Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper, , Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate, was the founder of the now defunct CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as Executive Vice President David Asper...
Clinical Research Institute, which are operated with research grants
Research funding
Research funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of both "hard" science and technology and social science. The term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most...
, industry contracts, fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
, and funding from the University of Manitoba. The centre opened in 1987. Its primary research mandate addresses three main areas: cardiovascular
Circulatory system
The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients , gases, hormones, blood cells, etc...
sciences, magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
(MRI) and spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
, and degenerative disorders associated with aging
Ageing
Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline...
. In addition, the Centre undertakes research in anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
, epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
, family medicine, infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s, nephrology
Nephrology
Nephrology is a branch of internal medicine and pediatrics dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.-Scope of the specialty:...
, nursing, nutraceutical
Nutraceutical
Nutraceutical, a portmanteau of the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical”, is a food or food product that reportedly provides health and medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease. Health Canada defines the term as "a product isolated or purified from foods that is...
s, pharmaceuticals, sleep disorder
Sleep disorder
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning...
s, and surgery.
Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
St. Boniface Hospital's Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences researches heart diseaseHeart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
at the cellular
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
and molecular
Molecule
A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...
levels. It also hosts the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, the journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences, and its journal Experimental & Clinical Cardiology. The Institute was created as the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in 1987 by Dr. Naranjan Dhalla
Naranjan Dhalla
Naranjan S. Dhalla, CM, OM, FRSC ; born 1936) is a Canadian cardiovascular research scientist focusing on cardiovascular pathophysiology and therapy of heart disease.Dr. Naranjan S. Dhalla is recognized as a world leader in heart research...
. Its researchers have been published in such academic journals as the New England Journal of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
and Cardiovascular Research.
Division of Neurodegenerative Disorders
The Division of Neurodegenerative Disorders (DND) was established in 1999. The DND is a neurodegenerative research team working to identify causes and treatments for disorders like Alzheimer’sAlzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
, stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s, traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
, and central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
degeneration, to study the effect of diabetes on neurodegeneration, and to conduct sleep studies. As of 2008, the principal investigators collectively have over 150 journal publications.
Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine
The Canadian Centre for Agri-food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM) investigates nutraceuticals and health foodHealth food
The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S...
in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. CCARM’s mandate is to research natural health product
Natural health product
The term natural health product is used in Canada to describe substances such as vitamins and minerals, herbal medicines, homeopathic preparations, energy drinks, probiotics, and many alternative and traditional medicines.-Regulation:...
s and give the results to the scientific community and the general public. The results of their research have been published in numerous academic journals, including the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
MRI centre
The Dr. Andrei Sakharov Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Facility, the first of its kind in Manitoba, has three MRI scanners. The facility allows radiologists to diagnose abnormalities of the brainBrain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
, spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, internal organs and joints. St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre is a recognized leader in the MRI field and has one of the largest MRI research facilities in Canada. An MRI was first installed at St. Boniface in 1990; this MRI was eventually replaced by a more modern version, which is primarily used for clinical purposes. The other two MRIs are research-oriented: they are an interventional scanner and a head-only functional unit. The clinical scanner enables the Centre to do echo-planar imaging, producing images at video rates; the interventional MRI gives physicians access to the patient during imaging, which supports research into robotics-guided laser surgery. Research carried out at the centre has been published in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Clinical research
Education
St. Boniface Hospital is affiliated with the University of ManitobaUniversity of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
's education and research branches, providing internship and practicum
Practicum
A practicum is a college course, often in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of a previously or concurrently studied theory. Practicums are common for education and social work majors...
positions for students. The hospital works with multiple University of Manitoba faculties, including medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
, physiotherapy and occupational therapy
Occupational therapy
Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling condition by utilizing treatments...
, as well as with Red River College
Red River College
Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology is located in Winnipeg. The College offers degree, diploma, certificate, and apprenticeship programs in the applied arts, applied sciences, and various trades. The university press, The Projector, is a member of CUP.-Campus:It has a number...
and Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface
Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface
The Université de Saint-Boniface, or USB, is a university college affiliated with the University of Manitoba and located in the Saint Boniface district of Winnipeg, Manitoba , Canada....
. St. Boniface Hospital also hosts the Winnipeg Critical Care Nursing Education Program.
Services
St. Boniface is one of Manitoba's two tertiary care centres. Patients are usually referred to the hospital by their doctors or clinics for specialized care, but may also be admitted through the emergency department. The Medicine Program is the adult general admissions program. This program admits around 4,000 patients per year, and treats around 40,000 through outpatient clinics. Services include: internal medicineInternal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
, endocrinology
Endocrinology
Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...
, rheumatology
Rheumatology
Rheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists...
, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology
Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine whereby the digestive system and its disorders are studied. The name is a combination of three Ancient Greek words gaster , enteron , and logos...
, hematology
Hematology
Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...
, oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
and neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
. The outreach program also includes at-home intravenous therapy and nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
. The hospital has 14 operating rooms; there is also a surgical intensive care unit
Intensive Care Unit
thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...
available for recovery. The surgical department treats over 14,000 patients per year. St. Boniface's emergency department
Emergency department
An emergency department , also known as accident & emergency , emergency room , emergency ward , or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specialising in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance...
provides acute care for an average of over 100 patients per day. The emergency room has recently been renovated, and the department is currently working to reduce patient wait times.
The Family Medicine Program is designed to encourage disease prevention and health maintenance. It also includes a palliative care
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
unit, the first nationally accredited palliative residency program in Canada. The Rehabilitation Program provides inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy. The Mental Health program provides psychological and counselling services to adult and adolescent patients. It also maintains an inpatient program, and provides stress counselling to hospital staff.
Cardiac Sciences Program
The Cardiac Sciences Program (including the departments of Cardiac Surgery, CardiologyCardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...
, Cardiac Anesthesiology and Critical Care) is an integrated heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
health unit designed to treat cardiac problems. The Bergen Cardiac Care Centre provides access to tertiary cardiology care and hosts cardiac operations and diagnostics, the only hospital in Manitoba to offer certain specialized services. It includes two cardiac angiography rooms, one pacemaker
Pacemaker
An artificial pacemaker is a medical device that uses electrical impulses to regulate the beating of the heart.Pacemaker may also refer to:-Medicine:...
and cardiac defibrillator room, one room for procedures in electrophysiology
Electrophysiology
Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...
, 17 recovery beds, cardiology clinics, echocardiography
Echocardiography
An echocardiogram, often referred to in the medical community as a cardiac ECHO or simply an ECHO, is a sonogram of the heart . Also known as a cardiac ultrasound, it uses standard ultrasound techniques to image two-dimensional slices of the heart...
rooms, and office space.
Diagnostic imaging
St. Boniface is one of eight hospitals in Winnipeg providing diagnostic imaging services, and is part of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's diagnostic imaging program. It provides: angiography, bone densityBone density
Bone density is a medical term normally referring to the amount of mineral matter per square centimeter of bones. Bone density is used in clinical medicine as an indirect indicator of osteoporosis and fracture risk.This medical bone density is not the true physical "density" of the bone, which...
imaging, CT scans, MRIs, mammography
Mammography
Mammography is the process of using low-energy-X-rays to examine the human breast and is used as a diagnostic and a screening tool....
, nuclear medicine
Nuclear medicine
In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form radiopharmaceuticals. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient, can localize to specific organs...
tests, ultrasound
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
s and X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s. St. Boniface was the home of Manitoba's first MRI scanner, and is one of the largest diagnostic MRI facilities in Western Canada.
Laboratories
The laboratories at the St. Boniface Hospital operate under the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's Laboratory Medicine Program; St. Boniface is one of the two main referral sites in the WRHA for specialty tests. They run tests in biochemistryBiochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
, hematology
Hematology
Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...
, immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
, microbiology
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
, cytology
Cytopathology
Cytopathology is a branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases on the cellular level. The discipline was founded by Rudolf Virchow in 1858. A common application of cytopathology is the Pap smear, used as a screening tool, to detect precancerous cervical lesions and prevent cervical...
and pathology
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
for patients and doctors in Manitoba. They also provide some specialized testing facilities for educational institutions.
Manitoba Renal Program
St. Boniface Hospital provides acute and chronic hemodialysisHemodialysis
In medicine, hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. Hemodialysis is one of three renal replacement therapies .Hemodialysis can be an outpatient or inpatient therapy...
as part of the Manitoba Renal Program. It also has a renal health clinic to assess patients with kidney problems.
Woman & Child Program
The Woman & Child Program cares for 11,500 patients annually, providing gynecological and obstetrical services, outpatient pediatric care and women's services. Over 5,000 births per year occur at St. Boniface Hospital. The Labour and Delivery department includes services for high-risk deliveries. The family care unit includes fifteen beds for obstetrical patients. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cares for 600 premature or ill infants per year; 10% of the births at St. Boniface involve ill or premature babies.Assessment
St. Boniface reports 80% patient satisfaction with its services, according to internal inpatient surveys. Mortality rates for inpatients stand at around 2.4%. Unlike the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada does not publish national ratings of individual hospitals.
According to internal reviews, the hospital reduced average wait times for acute care surgical patients from 10 hours to 3 between October 2008 and February 2009. As of 2009, the hospital is trying to reduce wait times for emergency room patients. Wait times for scheduled diagnostic services range from 4 weeks for bone density tests to 20 weeks for a myocardial perfusion study. The median wait time for cardiac surgery is 26 days.