Ron Bridges’s research while affiliated with University of Calgary and other places

RN Fedorak, CM Switzer, RJ Bridges. Canadian Digestive Health Foundation Public Impact Series 4: Celiac disease in Canada. Incidence, prevalence, and direct and indirect economic impact. Can J Gastroenterol 2012;26(6):350-352. The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation initiated a scientific program to assess the incidence, prevalence, mortality and economic impact of digestive disorders across Canada in 2009. The current article presents the updated findings from the study concerning celiac disease.

The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation initiated a scientific program to assess the incidence, prevalence, mortality and economic impact of digestive disorders across Canada in 2009. The current article presents the updated findings from the study concerning irritable bowel syndrome.

The growth in the use of endoscopy to diagnose and treat many gastointestinal disorders, and its central role in cancer screening programs, has led to a significant increase in the number of procedures performed. This growth, however, has also led to many variations in, among others, the provision of services, the choice of sedative medications and the training of providers. The recognition of the significance of quality in endoscopy has prompted several countries, including Canada, to initiate efforts to adopt nationwide quality improvement programs. The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology formed a committee to review endoscopy and quality with the aim of stimulating improvement. This article focuses specifically on patient safety indicators that were developed at a consensus conference aimed at generating a broad range of recommendations for selected endoscopic procedures, which if adopted, could lead to significant changes in how endoscopy services are provided.

Several organizations worldwide have developed procedure-based guidelines and/or position statements regarding various aspects of quality and safety indicators, and credentialing for endoscopy. Although important, they do not specifically address patient needs or provide a framework for their adoption in the context of endoscopy services. The consensus guidelines reported in this article, however, aimed to identify processes and indicators relevant to the provision of high-quality endoscopy services that will support ongoing quality improvement across many jurisdictions, specifically in the areas of ethics, facility standards and policies, quality assurance, training and education, reporting standards and patient perceptions.

The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation initiated a scientific program to assess the incidence, prevalence, mortality and economic impact of digestive disorders across Canada in 2009. The current article presents the updated findings from the study concerning inflammatory bowel diseases - specifically, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation initiated a scientific program to assess the incidence, prevalence, mortality and economic impact of digestive disorders across Canada. The current article presents the updated findings from the study concerning gastroesophageal reflux disease - a condition that develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications (Montreal definition).