Please share with all applicable staff.

Please note: This change is for IFTs from facilities in rural and northern Manitoba. The process within the WRHA remains status quo.

A new webform is now available for submitting requests for Inter-Facility Transports (IFTs) through the Virtual Emergency Care and Transfer Resource Service (VECTRS).

Up until now sending health facilities have only able to request IFTs 24 hours in advance. Since November 5, 2024, when VECTRS assumed the responsibility for the triage and prioritization of IFTs, it has become apparent a change is required to improve the utilization of ambulances and stretcher services, to reduce the number of cancelled or rescheduled appointments, and to reduce the need to call (and often wait) to request IFTs.

What is Happening?
To mitigate those challenges, a webform has been created that will enable IFTs to be requested greater than 24 hours in advance of the scheduled appointment where the transport requires a ground ambulance, air ambulance or stretcher transport service. All patients must be medically stable.

The form is located on the VECTRS web page.

We anticipate this form will make the process easier for sending facilities who will now be able to request IFTs further in advance, allowing for better management of expected workloads, a reduction in the amount of calls and fewer last-minute cancelations of appointments which negatively impact patient care.

We anticipate this form will make the process easier for sending facilities who will now be able to request IFTs further in advance, allowing for better management of expected workloads, a reduction in the amount of calls and fewer last-minute cancelations of appointments which negatively impact patient care.

The process for same-day or unstable patients has not changed – call VECTRS 204-949-4000 to request the IFT.

We greatly appreciate your support in facilitating this change. We appreciate the timing directly before the holidays may not be ideal however we feel this is an important, value-added service that will help sites over the holiday season and beyond.

Thank you to Digital Shared Services for their work in helping create the webform and finalizing it this past week.

Any questions regarding the webform or any other VECTRS related questions (not patient care related questions):

Rob Grierson, Chief Medical Officer, Shared Health Emergency Response Services, Michelle Piwniuk, Executive Director, Specialty Services & Coordination, Shared Health Emergency Response Services

For Manitoba clinical & public health practitioners & other Relevant care providers

Beginning Jan 1, 2025, new cases of syphilis detected by the Cadham Provincial Laboratory (CPL) using serologic techniques will no longer be routinely confirmed by Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TTPA).

All syphilis serologic investigation tends to begin with the CMIA syphilis screen test. As a rule, syphilis cases (beyond the early incubation period) will be positive by CMIA syphilis screen test. All screen test positive individuals will then have syphilis titres checked using the Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) test. Most new cases of syphilis have mid- to high RPR titres, and in the past have uniformly confirmed using TPPA. TPPA confirmation will no longer routinely be performed on these types of specimens.

TPPA confirmation will continue to be routinely be performed in the following circumstances:

• CMIA screen positive but RPR negative specimens
• Borderline CMIA positive specimens, regardless of RPR titre

Retrospective studies of recent CPL syphilis serology indicates that these scenarios benefit the most with the addition of TPPA confirmation.

In general terms, there should be little to no impact to clinicians or public health practitioners with this change. If you feel you have a case that requires further investigation with TPPA, please contact CPL or the CPL physician on-call to discuss.

References/Resources:
Please refer to the CPL Guide to Services (G2S) for collection and submission information.

More info.

CPL G2S website
Manitoba Syphilis Protocol

Contact

Paul Van Caeseele, MD, Medical Director, Cadham Provincial Laboratory | Shared Health

204-845-6456 or

There are regional and provincial reports of a clinical practice issue with B.Braun blood administration intravenous (IV) tubing (product #363419, SH-SS SKU 01358) and not being able to puncture through the ports on units of packed red blood cells (PRBCs), resulting in wasted units of blood.

Shared Health Provincial Patient Safety, Shared Health Blood Management and Canadian Blood Services are working on a solution to the issue. Until a solution is available, clinical direction is to continue using B.Braun blood administration IV tubing sets and that units of blood should be placed on a flat surface and punctured using a rotating 10 to 2 wrist motion. Staff are requested to document and report all product issues and blood wastage to assist with the tracking and analysis of the issue. Staff are encouraged to discuss any questions and concerns with their manager/supervisor.

Submitted by: Tamara Burnham, Collaborative Practice Lead
For more information contact: Tim at 431-356-0217 or

Advising Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) clinical staff regarding the following BBraun Infusomat intravenous (IV) tubing product updates:

• BBraun Infusomat – Backcheck Valve Malfunction-Resolved
• BBraun Infusomat – Straight Set (no port) IV Tubing-Resolved

Submitted by: Tamara Burnham, Collaborative Practice Lead, and Tim Siran, Regional Manager-Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
For more information contact: Tim at 431-356-0217 or