Did you know: 
- SHR employs over 500 laboratory staff, covering the 3 acute care sites and 16 rural sites, that performed 9 856 864 tests from April 2014-March 2015
- Dynacare
works in partnership with SHR, employing their own staff to collect
samples, with all testing done within the laboratories located in the
SHR Acute Care Sites
Want to learn more about what we do? Check us out below or watch a video about being a Medical Laboratory Technologist.
Why Choose Us
Saskatoon Health Region
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
The Pathology and Laboratory Medicine service is administered by Saskatoon Health Region and shares a direct
connection to the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. We provide
data access through the Saskatchewan Laboratory Results
Repository, a cornerstone to the development of the provincial
electronic health record. Our 400+ staff work together to provide services to
all clients/patients/residents of the Region as well as to the Province through
our many provincial diagnostic programs.
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is vital to patient care and patient flow.
Depending on the clinical scenario, a patient screened in emergency will have
laboratory tests ordered. Those test results influence additional testing that
may influence the decision for the need for aggressive therapies and or
admitting the patient to the hospital. For hospitalized patients, laboratory
tests further influence the need for additional testing and/or the decision to
keep the patient in the hospital or send the patient home.
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The Department of Laboratory Medicine includes the Divisions of Anatomic
Pathology (including Histology and Cytology), Chemistry, Diagnostic Molecular
Pathology, Hematology, Microbiology, Specimen Management, and Transfusion Medicine. Read more about these teams below!
The Anatomic Pathology Team
The Anatomic Pathology Division processes over 125 000 specimens per year
for pathologist review. Each specimen goes through a variety of processes to be
prepared, ending in a stained slide for pathologist review. This
area processes surgical, autopsy, and cytological specimens.
The Chemistry Team
The Chemistry team is patient care driven with
high acuity connected to Emergency, trauma center, acute care pediatrics and
provides support to the cancer agency. Timely patient test results are
necessary to ensure excellent patient care and bed management.
The Cytogenetics Team
Cytogenetics is the specialized area of laboratory medicine involving
the study of normal and abnormal chromosomes and their relationship to human
development and disease. In medical practice, the study of human chromosomes is
essential because changes in the chromosome number and structure can lead to
birth defects, mental retardation, infertility, miscarriage and cancer.
Analysis of chromosomes can aid in the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of
treatment involving conditions seen by medical geneticists, pediatricians,
obstetricians, gynecologists, neonatologists, hematologists, oncologists, and
pathologists. Diagnoses made include Down Syndrome, Velo-cardio-facial syndrome
and chronic myeloid leukemia together some lethal conditions such as Patau
Syndrome and Edwards Syndrome. Cytogenetic analysis provides prognostic
information in acute myeloid leukemia and is used for triaging multiple myeloma
and chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients for stem cell transplant.
The Phlebotomy Team
The Phlebotomy team is responsible for all acute care and test center
specimen collections. This service is patient care
driven with high acuity in the areas of trauma, pediatrics and NICU. Timely
collections are necessary to ensure excellent patient care and bed management.
The Pre-Analytics/Pre-Examination Team
Our Laboratory Department has processes of sample preparation which we classify as pre-analytics/pre-examination. Every division of the lab has these processes, some more than others. SHR hires Medical Laboratory Assistants to perform this group of process tasks for specimen order entry, labelling, aliquoting (separation into different tubes), tracking, distribution, bacteriology plate inoculation, instrumentation loading etc. as required for workload within each division. The value of this work is directly connected to the quality of the result being reported for patient care.
The Hematology Team
The Hematology team is responsible for providing laboratory results for acute care
and other areas such as Saskatoon Cancer Agency and Bleeding Disorder clinics.
Staff assist with bone marrow specimen collections and run routine hematology,
coagulation and specialized coagulation testing. Flow cytometry testing is a
specialized field serving patients with Cancer and HIV. This service is patient
care driven with high acuity in the areas of trauma, pediatrics and NICU.
The HLA Team
HLA is a laboratory that specializes in identifying compatible donors for kidney and bone marrow recipients. Each individual has a unique set of markers (HLA antigens) on their blood cells that can be determined by laboratory testing. When a patient with kidney disease or certain types of cancer requires a transplant it is important to find a donor that will be compatible with their HLA typing.
The Microbiology Team
The Microbiology team is a diverse laboratory within the department of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. It includes the sections of Bacteriology,
Virology, Molecular Diagnostics, TB Services, Parasitology and Mycology and
provides service for the entire Saskatoon Health Region. The division processes
approximately 2000 patient specimens per day for diagnosis of infectious
disease. These specimens must be processed in a timely fashion to allow
targeted treatment to begin as soon as possible, ensuring excellent patient
care.
The Specimen Management Team
Specimen Management is the central hub for laboratory specimen collections for acute care and SPH test center. Daily routine morning collections vary between 85 and 120 patients. Following morning collections phlebotomists support acute care, emergency services and test center patient collections on demand. Specimen Management is also the central hub for laboratory specimens from the community, the broader region and other Regional Health Authorities referring testing to Saskatoon. The staff handle over 4200 specimens per day. The two areas work collaboratively to collect and manage samples to ensure acute care is prioritized.
The Transfusion Medicine Team
Transfusion Medicine is the area of the laboratory involved in ensuring compatible blood and blood products are available for
patient use. These patients may be undergoing a surgical procedure or have other disease states such as cancer or a bleeding disorder that require them to be transfused. A specialized area within Transfusion Medicine is the Stem Cell Processing Laboratory. In this area, harvested stem cells are processed and then later infused to patients with varying types of cancer. The Transfusion Medicine Laboratory also manages and stores various types of tissue that is later used for transplantation.
